Charlotte Varcoe
THE popular Bay Escape celebrations have been put off for another year due to ongoing concerns surrounding Covid-19.
Deciding to cancel the 2022 event recently, the festival committee said it was a disappointing decision which had to be made.
Speaking on behalf of the committee, Ryan Donovan said it seemed like the best decision for the community.
“It was not an easy decision to make,” Mr Donovan said.
“There is a lot that goes into putting the event on and the ongoing changes makes it tricky to gamble on the future.”
The family friendly event had been successful for a number of decades with the last festival held in 2020 mere months before the pandemic hit the nation.
“Just after we held the 2020 festival things started getting tricky,” he said.
“Back then we had around 4000 to 5000 people coming through the gates across the day.”
Mr Donovan said the committee decided against hosting the event due to logistical difficulties such as monitoring QR code check ins and funneling people through one gate at a time.
“It is disappointing to cancel twice especially as we went through a lot of rebranding in 2020, but we also received a lot of positive feedback that year which is great,” he said.
“Not being able to build on that has been frustrating but we are hoping to make it bigger and better next year as it has given us more time to plan.”
Wanting to build the festival up, Mr Donovan said it would take time and effort but would be worth it in the end.
“The community has shown disappointment that it has been cancelled again but I think by now they are mostly used to it and accepting that events are still being cancelled,” he said.
“People are disappointed but not surprised.”
Community members who wish to help in running the 2023 Bay Escape festival are able to register an expression of interest by contacting the committee.
