Liam McNally
Star Weekly is taking a look back at 2023. Here’s one of our biggest stories from last year.
Bacchus Marsh’s annual Strawberry and Cherry Festival has been cancelled for 2023 due to costs rising to almost $100,000.
The three-day festival typically happens in November and draws more than 35,000 visitors. The festival usually has 200 market stalls, carnival rides, entertainment and firework displays.
Felicity Ashman has been helping to organise the event since 2015, and ran it in 2022 through her company Urban Markets following the closure of the Bacchus Marsh Tourism Association in 2021.
Ms Ashman said hosting the festival has become unfeasible this year, mainly due to rising costs.
“We are heartbroken to cancel our beloved large-scale family favourite event for the community this year,” she said.
“Despite our efforts, unforeseen challenges have made it unfeasible. We … hope to return stronger next year.”
Ms Ashman said atraffic management planning company quoted at least $34,000, up from the $24,000 last year, leading her to consult with council about changing the event location from Main Street to a private block, however, it got too late in the year to be able to prepare.
The other large increase was a new weight requirement for market stalls, with the council requiring marquees to be held down by 240 kilograms each.
Ms Ashman said the typical requirement for previous years, as well as at events she has organised in four nearby councils, including Djerriwarrh Festival, is 20 kilograms. She estimated the weights would cost about $40,000.
“The logistics alone of hiring weights for 180 marquees, plus getting them up and down the street, plus taken off at night, and taken back to marquees the next day … That amount of weight is excessive,” she said.
A Moorabool council spokesperson said council’s building team was in discussions with the organisers to provide options regarding the weights, however, the progression of that conversation was dependent on the final location of the event.
The spokesperson said the council is looking forward to work with the festival again in the future.
Ms Ashman said stallholder fees would have covered just about half of the festivals projected cost for this year, and that in future years the event will need community support to continue.
“I cant afford to keep running events that are running at a loss,” she said. “We will bring it back next year stronger and better and we’ll go from there.”
