Queenscliff Music Festival called off again due to Covid uncertainty

A Geelong region music festival slated to be held in one of Australia’s most vaccinated municipalities next month has been forced to cancel, citing a lack of clarity over state government rules for running events.

Queenscliff Music Festival has officially been postponed until November next year, with

organisers saying the decision was driven by a lack of clarity for events in Victoria from the government.

Organisers were also forced to cancel the event in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic.

The festival had been scheduled for November 26 to 28 this year, to be held in the Borough of Queenscliffe, which has been leading the nation’s vaccine race.

An announcement from QMF director Andrew Orvis and the festival team said it had set about organising an event this year with great hope and optimism early in 2021.

“Things were looking extremely positive in Australia at the time, so we pushed ahead, booked the acts, put tickets on sale, made plans … and then Covid reared its ugly head again,” the statement said.

Revellers at Queenscliff Music Festival in 2019. Picture: Alan Barber

“Over the past few weeks we have been exploring all options for a November 2021 event to go ahead, including running a demonstration event in reduced format, showing how events could safely return, with proof of vaccination, social distancing etc.

“Sadly, time has run out, and without a Victorian Public Events Framework in place against which our event application can be assessed or access to event cancellation insurance our event cannot proceed.

“It’s a risky business to start organising an event, spend significant amounts of money in advance, and then have the potential for it to be shut down at the last minute.”

Organisers said if this was to happen to QMF it would threaten their ability to be here in 2022.

“It absolutely seems like we’re nearly there with events … but sadly the lead time to pull something off is just too great for us to keep pushing ahead,” the announcement said. “Vaccination rate projections show Victoria reaching 80%+ in early November, and the State Governments Road map suggests that events will return but potentially not until early 2022.”

However, the organisers said they were hoping to be able to bring music back and gather with people in Queenscliff in some way in early 2022.

“Unfortunately, we are not able to announce anything right now like we had hoped, but please stay tuned for updates in the coming weeks/months,” the team said.

The festival is planned for November 25 to 27 next year.

“All current Ticket Holders will be contacted separately via email regarding the Ticket Transfer and Refund process,” the announcement said

“Current QMF 2021 tickets will automatically transfer and become valid for QMF 2022 unless you wish to receive a refund.”

A State Government spokesman said further guidance about staging events would be announced in due course, subject to public health information.

“Victoria’s Roadmap provides key thresholds for the safe return to doing the things we love,” he said.

“Public events can be held within the density and capacity limits at the 80 per cent double-dose vaccination mark, which is forecast to be the first week of November.”

Originally published as Queenscliff Music Festival called off again due to Covid uncertainty