Vol. No. Vol. 2518No. 2227
Wednesday, January 30, 13, 2022 2016 Wednesday, November
FREE PUBLICATION
A FREE PUBLICATION FROM YOUR LOCAL RADIO STATIONS 3WM AND MIXXFM
TINY DANCER: Amelia Emmett was among the pre-schoolers and ‘tiny tots’ students to perform in a Horsham School of Dance concert at the weekend. The concert was the first of its kind for the school, offering its youngest students the chance to perform for families and friends without the pressure of the stage. More photos, page 25. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER
‘Logistical nightmare’ BY MICHAEL SCALZO
A
Horsham festival organiser says there are ‘complex’ logistical obstacles limiting a mainstreet return of the event, despite calls for a venue reversion.
Kannamaroo Festival committee president Di Bell said, in her experience, hosting the event in Horsham’s main street was a ‘logistical nightmare’. She said increased insurance costs, shrinking volunteer numbers and changing business and demographic landscapes would continue to threaten the festival’s long-term viability if event changes were not considered. The festival, that started as an event
along the Wimmera River in 1980, was relocated to a blockaded Firebrace Street during the Millennium Drought. Originally slated for a Horsham showground-hub on Saturday and Sunday, in an event first, the committee moved the festival to Horsham Plaza carpark late in the week. Saturated grass and entry points limited public admission and carnivalride operations at the showground. Mrs Bell said Horsham Rural City Council had always assisted with Kannamaroo-event road closures on Firebrace Street. She said the committee, not the council, had shifted the event in trying circumstances.
Mrs Bell said changes to the event’s council-based insurance classification had driven up public liability costs, and management of a ‘rolling’ event set-up throughout the weekend that could satisfy businesses, non-festival customer access, and festival-goers was not possible without a ‘significant’ increase to the number of committed volunteers on the festival committee. “The last time the festival ran in the main street, the event was housed within an umbrella of the council’s public liability insurance, and now the festival needs its own insurance,” she said. “This year we had $6000 to run the festival and I don’t think we could comprehend how much public liabil-
ity it would cost if the event was in the main street. “It cost a third of our whole budget, just in insurance, to host the movie on Roberts Place on Friday night, and that was in a small and controlled space. “Not to mention there would be rolling road closures along Horsham streets for festival set-up; while management of access to non-festival businesses, carnival electricity, emergency services access, as well as vehicle-safety barriers at each end of the main street would all need to be installed within about an hour because of timeframe restrictions on major road closures. “It is not something that can just
happen because some people in the community want it that way.” Mrs Bell said the festival had been ‘crying out’ for more volunteers for years – specifically, volunteers who were ready to shoulder substantial loads. She said while she appreciated constructive feedback about the event, a pool of available volunteers had shrunk to an unsustainable level. “People are remembering Kannamaroo Festival from ‘back then’ and wanting the same thing now, but I believe what they really remember is the community connection the festival offered, not its location,” she said. Continued page 5
IN THIS ISSUE • Nationals hold • Apsley ‘devastated’ • Monthly AgLife • Lakers A Grade return Phone: 03 5382 1351 Read it online: www.theweeklyadvertiser.com.au
AUDITED: 20,980 COPIES
October 2021 to September 2022
Source: AMAA; CAB Total Distribution Audit for further information visit www.auditedmedia.org.au
Santa arrives December 1