Call for clarity to plan Easter Fair

ORGANISERS of the iconic Bendigo Easter Fair are calling for clarity from the State Government on COVID-19 restrictions as they look to plan next year’s event as a non-ticketed celebration open to all, regardless of their vaccination status.

President of the Bendigo Easter Fair Society, Simon Mulqueen, said the group needed more information now to be able to bring the event back for the first time in two years.

“It takes a long time to organise an event of this size, the Easter Fair is the biggest regional event in Victoria, in our view, and we need the time to put that in place, particularly an Easter Fair which is the 150th,” he said.

“Our community, both business and the general public, needs this event to get back on track.

“We can gate some other aspects of the event and we can QR in venues and rides, we’re happy to wear masks at the parade if that’s what the Government wants, but we just want to have the ability for people to come into the city, vaccinated or unvaccinated.”

Mr Mulqueen said there was no reason the event couldn’t go ahead safely under those conditions, as statewide vaccination rates are set to hit 90 per cent later this month.

“We expect by Easter 2022 that we’ll be close to 95 per cent vaccinated, so if not 2022 then when?”

The last fair attracted some 80,000 attendees and Mr Mulqueen said it would be a “devastating blow” if another cancellation had to be made.

His comments were echoed by upper house MP Wendy Lovell who said she’d also been contacted by Bendigo councillors and members of the public saying they wanted to see the event go ahead.

“It brings thousands of tourists to our town and they fill our motels, restaurants, they buy stuff in our retail sector,” she said.

“It’s vital for our economy but it’s also vital for the people here in Bendigo to have that activity happening once again.

“The Government need to give the Easter Fair Society a guarantee that they can go ahead with a non-ticketed event next year.”

Member for Bendigo East, Jacinta Allan, said the State Government’s current focus was getting to 90 per cent full vaccination and they would, “Continue to work with major events into the new year to ensure they can have COVID safe events that reflect the situation we’re in at that time.”

“The public events team at the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions meets with the City of Greater Bendigo on a monthly basis and the COVID safe delivery of the Easter Fair is a major focus of the discussions,” she added.