THE difficulties associated with a COVID Management Plan has seen a Riverland council officially cancel an annual wine and food festival.
Renmark Paringa councillors passed a motion at last week’s general meeting to cancel the 2021 Rivafest, with “the intent of the event returning in 2022”.
Renmark Paringa director of corporate and community services, Tim Pfeiffer, said attempts were made to change the date – and format – of the event.
“The event usually occurs in January each year and takes many months to plan,” Mr Pfeiffer said
“In August last year it was postponed by council due to the challenges associated with COVID-19 and since then staff have investigated whether the event could be held in the regular format at a later date, or in an entirely different format.
“No obvious opportunities have presented and so council has cancelled the event that should have occurred in January 2021.”
Renmark Paringa councillors voted at the August 2020 general meeting to postpone the Rivafest event.
Mr Pfeiffer said costs of implementing and maintaining a COVID-management plan would have added extra expense for council.
“Rivafest is run on a cost-neutral basis in order to limit the cost to ratepayers,” he said.
“The income from ticket sales, stallholders and sponsors nets off the expenses for shelter, furniture, marketing and entertainment.
“This means that the event needs to attract a comparatively large crowd in order to be viable.
“However, events with crowds over 999 people require a COVID-management plan, which therefore requires a higher planning cost, additional infrastructure and enhanced compliance on the night.”