A MUCH loved local festival is feeling the pinch, with both funding and volunteer numbers under pressure, leading to thoughts of ending its reign.
The Great Barrier Reef Festival is one of the gems in the Whitsundays events crown and is one of the longest continually running events in the region, having run annually for more than two decades.
The 2024 festival was held last weekend (August 1 to 4) and – despite it being a roaring success – organisers fear the 2024 event may be the last, if more volunteers and more cash are not forthcoming.
Committee chairperson Margie Murphy, who has worked on the festival for 15 years, said the effort to keep it running had reached a crossroads.
Amidst dwindling volunteer numbers, and the constant juggling of various funding sources, Ms Murphy said when the event’s Tourism and Events Queensland (TEQ) grant lapsed last year, it did not bode well.
“It would be a massive loss for our community if we were to lose it, because the festival is our cultural identity,” Ms Murphy said.
“It’s mostly free to attend and it gives community groups and individuals the chance to get involved, such as the street parade or the recyclable regatta, or in helping to create the art installation.
“We know the community would also miss it, it’s the only large celebration that the whole community can get involved with.”
Ms Murphy said organising the event was not just about the volunteers but also their families.
“We can’t do it to ourselves and our families again, unless we get further monetary support,” she said.
Rumours ran rampant online on Monday (August 5) that the Great Barrier Reef Festival (established in 2001) had been cancelled, just a day after the 2024 event finished.
TEQ’s Queensland Destination Events Program (QDEP) has supported it from 2018, up until last year.
However, QDEP requires events to take a one-year break from the program, after five consecutive years, to avoid reliance on government funding and allow for reassessment.
Ms Murphy said without this support, the event’s future was now in doubt.
She emphasised that council was not to blame for the potential ending of the festival and that they had been ‘amazing’ to work with, over the years.
“People are dissing council [online] and we don’t want that — we just need more of a partnership with them,” Ms Murphy said.
“It was lack of government support on several levels, not just local.”
The committee has requested an ‘urgent’ meeting with council to discuss the festival’s future.
“The festival is a whole year in the planning and this year there was pretty much the core committee members of four people, with extra hands over the weekend,” Ms Murphy said.
“There’s so much involved from marketing and social media management, permits and WHS admin, communications, finance and accounting, grant writing and reporting in addition to general event planning.
“People give up days or weeks of their job, or do it on top of their work commitments, to make it happen every year.”
