QMF organisers still committed to November event

ORGANISERS of the Queenscliff Music Festival (QMF) say the planned return of the annual event later this year is “certainly achievable” but it will likely be different to festivals held in previous years.

The QMF is typically held in late November each year but the 2020 edition was cancelled in July last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Festival director Andrew Orvis sent out an update to subscribers last week.

“Firstly, let me say right from the jump that we’re 100 per cent committed to delivering the Queenscliff Music Festival on the last weekend in November this year and we’re busy working on plans to make this a reality,” he said.

“There are a lot of hoops we’ll need to jump through to get there, and we have already begun that process.

“We expect that there will be some things different about QMF 2021 … exactly what that is, we’re just not sure yet.

“Our aim is to deliver a festival that’s as close to ‘normal’ as we can, maintaining as much of what makes QMF as special as possible.

“For example, QMF won’t be a single stage, single day, seated outdoor concert … that’s just not us.”

He said the festival’s staff were working through the state government guidelines and restrictions, and developing a COVIDSafe plan for the event.

“Once we’re confident in moving forward with that plan we’ll start to share some news with you, including line-up announcements,” Mr Orvis said.

“A QMF is certainly achievable based on our current COVID situation in Victoria, and current government restrictions.

“Normally by now we’d have early bird tickets on sale.

“We’ll hold off on putting tickets back on sale again until we are ready to push go.

“Again, a big thank you to the more than 1,600 people who held on to their tickets from last year.

“Your support means the world to us and gives us the confidence to push ahead despite all of the uncertainty.”

Mr Orvis said the QMF team kept themselves busy in late 2020 and early 2021 despite the cancellation with the establishment of The Pelican Bar, which delivered more than 60 shows and 18 movies to Queenscliff and attracted more than 4,000 people.

“It took us 10 weeks to achieve what we would normally do in one day of QMF, but in the end it was all worth it to get musicians back on stage, crew back working, and our QMF family back enjoying live music once again.

“We are all indebted to the 100-plus QMF volunteers who worked at The Pelican Bar in various roles, without whom we simply couldn’t have achieved what we did.”