The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed another two community events with the Cobden Spring Festival cancelling its silver anniversary celebrations and the Port Fairy Show off the calander.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Planning was well under way for Cobden's 25th festival but with so much uncertainty and sponsors hit hard by the lockdowns, organisers made the decision to call off this year's milestone celebrations.
Port Fairy Show president Chris Snell said they had reluctantly decided to cancel their November 7 event which had run for more than 160 years without interruption.
Camperdown and Warrnambool have already cancelled their shows.
Cobden festival committee member Misty Angus said it was disappointing but organisers promised to be back bigger and better next October.
"Cobden's had it pretty tough over the last couple of years. We've had the dairy crisis, then the fires and now this," Mrs Angus said.
"It was the 25th consecutive spring festival this year, unfortunately it's just not possible to go ahead with.
"It's just impossible at the moment to book bands or entertainment and we rely really heavily on local businesses for sponsorship and support.
"At the moment with the financial uncertainty, it's just not right for us to be putting our hands out and say 'can we have money?'."
Mrs Angus said they didn't want to put on a "watered down" version just for the sake of it because they felt it might jeopardise the future of the festival.
"It will still be our 25th birthday next year, it just won't be consecutive years," she said.
"We've got some more time to plan so maybe we can come up with something bigger and better."
Mrs Angus said it was also hard to adhere to social distancing rules during the popular street parade.
She said the parade attracted 1000 people last year even though the weather was atrocious.
Mrs Angus said the festival was first staged as a way to promote all that Cobden has to offer - its businesses, miniature trains, restoration group and dairy park.
"We're actually very lucky we have all the things we do. When it comes down to it they may still open on that Sunday that they would traditionally open for the spring festival, but it just won't be under our banner," she said.
Mr Snell said that with so much uncertainty around when restrictions would or wouldn't be lifted, organisers decided to call off the Port Fairy show.
"This is the first time in the history of the Port Fairy Show - 160 something years - that it's had to be cancelled," he said.
"With all that history we took into account, it was certainly with a very heavy heart that we had to do it.
"To hold the show takes months of preparation and it would be horrible for us to spend all this time and money preparing for something that possibly may not happen.
"Generally on a good day the show breaks even with costs, so we rely on help from local businesses and with so many local businesses closed and suffering we feel that we couldn't go and put our hands out to them."
Meanwhile, Warrnambool and Noorat shows were both given grant packages of up to $10,000 on Thursday to help upgrade or establish new facilities and encourage greater local involvement in their events.
Victorian minister for Agriculture Jaclyn Symes announced $300,000 would go to 39 societies as part of the 2019-20 Agricultural and Pastoral Society Grants Program.
Ms Symes said the funds could be used to enhance facilities that can be used for events other than agricultural shows while ensuring communities that had to cancel or postpone shows due to the coronavirus pandemic could have upgraded facilities for future events.
"Agricultural shows are a beloved part of regional Victoria - they play an important role by promoting agriculture and showcasing local art, craft and artisanal produce," she said.
"These grants will not only improve our regional annual shows, but they'll also benefit the whole community through the various events hosted at these facilities throughout the year."
Listen to the latest episode of our weekly episode The Booletin and Beyond:
Our COVID-19 news articles relating to public health and safety are free for anyone to access. However, we depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support.