Northern Gold Coast Community Fair organisers furious with council after fair cancellation at Pimpama

A family fair in the north of the Gold Coast expected to draw thousands of people has been canned because a fancy new facility is impacted by fire ants, among other issues.

A long-held community fair that attracts 7000 people will be canned this year because the Gold Coast City Council says a newly opened $94 million hub is not fit to host it.

Organisers of the Northern Gold Coast Community Fair say they have been “kicked in the guts” by the decision to deny them access to the Pimpama Sports Hub on October 22.

Council says it will help find another venue, but the organisers say they are “done”.

Sue Haywood and Bonnie Cook are furious over council’s decision to scrap the Northern Gold Coast Community Fair, which they had put hundreds of hours of work” into. Ms Haywood and Ms Cook are pictured at the proposed venue, the Pimpama Sports Hub. Picture: Richard Gosling

A letter from a council officer says the fair, first held in 2004, could not be held at the Pimpama complex because of “traffic management, overflow carpark, netball courts, significant impact to wider user groups, bushfire hazards and fire ant colonies”.

The hub was dubbed the best community facility ever built on the Gold Coast when it opened late last year.

Before Covid, the fair was held in Ormeau and later Yatala.

Ormeau Lions Club volunteers Sue Haywood and Bonnie Cook said they were told Brien Harris Oval in Ormeau could not be used because it would be undergoing renovations.

However, Ms Haywood said the Ormeau Christmas Carols were scheduled to be held there on December 11.

“Every time council has blocked us on something we made alternative arrangements to ensure the event could go ahead,” Ms Haywood said.

“It’s devastating for the whole northern Gold Coast community and frankly a bit of a kick in the guts.

The cancellation letter from Gold Coast City Council (Events). Picture: Supplied.

“It is a family-focused event that is affordable. There’s really no other events to service the community.

“The area has grown dramatically in the last few years and there is nowhere to hold events. Our fair has been likened to Ormeau’s version of the Ekka.

“Bonnie and I were doing this for the community, not for personal gain. It’s quite gutting, soul-destroying and deflating to have it tossed aside by council like this.

“It’s denying local businesses the opportunity to showcase their business, as well as all the sporting clubs that are looking to boost their memberships.”

Ms Haywood said “hundreds of hours” of preparation and upfront booking costs had gone into organising the fair, with food, ride and fireworks vendors “already locked in and deposits paid”.

Ormeau locals enjoying the fair in 2011.

“This included numerous site visits, having fireworks safety inspectors and ride personnel come out and a traffic company visit for site logistics.”

A council spokesperson told the Bulletin the city had “worked closely with organisers but were unable to approve the event at the Pimpama Sports Hub due to the reasons provided”.

“We will continue to work with the organisers to find a more suitable location for this event,” the spokesperson said.

Area Councillor Mark Hammel said he would ask why the “so-called” purpose-built sports hub would not cater for the fair, and was in the process of finding another location.

Division 1 Councillor Mark Hammel is backing the organisers, calling the event cancellation “disappointing”. Picture: Mike Batterham

“In my opinion this shows there are issues to be dealt with at the so-called event space at the Pimpama Sports Hub if major events are to be held there in the future,” he said.

“This is a hub built to service over 200,000 residents across the Northern Gold Coast and the City needs to develop a strategy for this to work – from both a traffic and an event facilities perspective.

Councillor Hammel is asking why build a $94m events hub if events can’t go ahead there? Picture: Supplied.

“I will be following up with the City on how the event space can be fit for purpose going forward.

“If that can’t be achieved, my immediate focus will be to commence the process of finding another location.

“Hundreds of volunteer hours were spent putting the unsuccessful application together this year and I don’t want to see that happen again in the future.”

Cr Hammel said he was “very supportive” of the event and had “set aside divisional funds to help it go ahead”.

Originally published as Northern Gold Coast Community Fair organisers furious with council after fair cancellation at Pimpama