Fate of Mary St festivals to be decided by Gympie council

The future of a community celebration in the historic heart of Gympie hangs in the balance as in-fighting between the Gympie council, the Chamber of Commerce and Mary Street traders threatens to shut it down.

Gympie Chamber of Commerce president Petra Van Beek hopes Gympie Regional Council will take over the Mary Street festivals in 2023. Pictures: Supplied.

The fate of the much-loved Mary Street festivals hangs in the balance, as the Gympie Chamber of Commerce threatens to pull the plug on the events.

In a grant application to the Gympie Regional Council, the Chamber requested $29,120 in funding to deliver three events.

These events would occur for Christmas, Easter and Winter, the application said.

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Separate to this application, an unnamed Mary Street business owner approached the council with an application for a second Christmas event to be held in December this year.

Historically, there have been two Christmas on Mary events in the lead-up to the festive season, with hundreds of people and families enjoying the celebration in the historic retail strip in the heart of the city.

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According to the application to go before the council on Wednesday, November 23, the business owner had discussed holding a second event in December with other traders, but not the Chamber of Commerce.

On November 16, the council sought a letter of “no objection” from the Chamber, which was delivered – with one key caveat.

The Chamber agreed to the second Christmas event, provided that council (and the anonymous trader) take responsibility for all future Mary Street events.

It said it would withdraw its grant application, should the second Christmas event go ahead in Mary Street this Christmas.

Gympie Chamber of Commerce president Petra Van Beek said the move was not to be a grinch. Instead, it reflected the charter and goals of the Chamber.

“We are not a festival organisation,” Ms Van Beek said.

“The Chamber board are all volunteers … it takes a lot of effort to run them.

“We appreciate that they add value to the community and we certainly want to see them keep going, but we don’t believe we’re the right vehicle to be running them.”

Gympie Chamber of Commerce president Petra Van Beek in Mary Street.

Ms Van Beek said the council previously ran the Mary Street festivals before the Chamber of Commerce was asked to take over the responsibility in 2021.

“While we have run them over the past 18 months, going forward we are more interested in economic development activities and feel that the festivals are more in the council’s ballpark, or alternatively the Mary Street traders themselves,” she said.

Ms Van Beek said it was important to remember there were a large number of businesses in Gympie with no connection to Mary Street and the Chamber needed to represent the majority of businesses.

“[The festivals] have an aspect that does contribute to the economic development of particularly Mary Street … but most shops don’t actually open for the festival,” she said.

“We feel they are more for community development and community celebration.”

The Mary Street trader who put forward the application was approached for comment but declined until the council has made its decision.

The council meeting will be held at 9am on Wednesday, November 23, 2022 at Tin Can Bay.