Border restrictions, lockdowns, and an overwhelming atmosphere of uncertainty has wreaked havoc on Australia’s events calendar.
Many festivals, shows, and fairs have now been called off for the second year in a row … and it’s having a big impact in many rural communities.
The ABC reports that more than 160 agricultural shows have been called off this year with more cancellations sure to come.
In New South Wales, The North Coast National Lismore show has just been scrapped, with the event’s president John Gibson saying the position was just impossible.
“With what’s happening we just couldn’t see how we could continue plan for a show, especially with the Queensland border locked the way it is, because a lot of our exhibitors and people involved with the show come from south-east Queensland,” he told the ABC. “It’s been touch and go with the lockdowns coming and going like they’ve been — it’s been a tough year to try and plan for a show, but we didn’t think it would get to this.”
The North Coast National received $70,000 through the $34-million Supporting Agricultural Shows and Field Days Program to reimburse it for costs incurred through the cancellation of the 2020 show.
Agricultural Shows Australia executive officer Katie Stanley told the ABC the support package was an ‘absolute lifeline’ to many shows and should be extended. She said the cancellation of no less than 161 shows around the country was hitting communities hard.
“Some of these shows were seeing two years in a row unable to put on any sort of community event, which obviously has long-term impacts on the community, on their wellbeing, on local stakeholders, those sponsors that so often support these ag shows,” she said. “It really flows on — not just beyond the show but into the communities that rely so heavily on these events once a year.”
