Benalla Festival program changes

Published on 24 October 2022

The 2022 Benalla Festival, scheduled to start on 29 October, will see a variation in its program of events due to the recent wet weather.

Following recent flooding events and more wet weather on the way, organisers have made the difficult decision to postpone some events on the first weekend of the program.

The unpredictability of the weather, sodden recreation areas and consultation with key stakeholder has led to the decision. While some of the first weekend events will go ahead as planned, people are being asked to check the festival social media for updates.

Benalla Festival Committee Chair Cr Don Firth said recent rain had already impacted on many first weekend Festival sites and the predicted weather forecast had left community organisers and the Benalla Festival Advisory Committee with no choice.

“Unfortunately, with the current impacts and predicted wet weather conditions and resulting safety risks, organisers are not able to set up and host safe and successful events.

“Proceeding with some of the events would result in considerable damage to the site, Cr Firth said.

“Positively, all is not lost and some first weekend events will be postponed to a future date to be advised.

“Other events on the program will still run and we encourage you to support these events.

“As a community we were so looking forward to these events and the Advisory Committee is extremely saddened and disappointed to have to make this decision.

“We are still looking to the second weekend events in Benalla being able to run at this stage, but this is subject to weather conditions over the coming week.

“I thank all committee members, community event organisers and participants for their hard work in planning for the Festival so far and look forward to celebrating the events we can proceed with,” Cr Firth said.

Visit the Benalla Festival Facebook page for the latest updates.