Jacaranda Festival president Nicholas Buckler resigns

The outgoing president said he couldn’t move on without making his feelings known and felt he had a responsibility to financial members to explain.

The cost of keeping Jaca Jill safe from a repeat attack by vandals has led to the resignation of Jacaranda Festival president Nicholas Buckler.

On Wednesday, members were notified of his decision to step down with vice president Desan Padayachee taking over the role.

However, Mr Buckler later emailed financial members of the festival detailing the reasons behind his resignation.

“I couldn’t move on without making my feelings known and felt like I had a responsibility to financial members as to why I was stepping down,” he told the Daily Examiner.

“The set-up of the festival is great, but I just don’t agree with some of the things going on and wanted to ensure my integrity remained intact.”

Jacaranda Festival president Nicholas Buckler has resigned from the role. Picture: Adam Hourigan

Mr Buckler did not wish to comment about the specifics of his email, but new festival president Desan Padayachee said his resignation came shortly after the committee voted to pay for 24-hour security of Jaca Jill while she was on display at See Park.

In 2019 the giant Kewpie doll was set alight by vandals with the dress completely destroyed. Since then, with the help of multiple volunteers and donors, she has been fully restored.

“Nick said the festival isn’t going to afford it at this stage due to a projected budget to the end of the financial year,” Mr Padayachee said.

“We said, okay, we understand that there’s no immediate return in money, but this is the community’s money and right now the money is here to do this.”

Mr Padayachee said there had already been a plan and budget in place for security of the doll in Market Square prior to the committee postponing the main events to December.

The damaged remains of the Kewpie doll "Jacaranda Jill" set alight in Market Square in 2019.

So when an opportunity arose to display Jaca Jill in See Park as part of Clarence Valley Council’s illuminate See Park project, the committee voted in favour of paying the remaining $7,000 toward the cost of security.

“At the end of the day, right now the money is here to do this, Jaca Jill looks beautiful with her new dress and new framework, but we just can’t put her in the park without security,” he said.

“See Park is already generating a lot of interest on social media where people are seeing those photos and saying ‘we want to go to this place’ so it’s definitely going to build that momentum for future festivals.”

While Mr Buckler’s resignation was sudden, Mr Padayachee said there were no hard feelings.

“Nick absolutely loves the Jacaranda Festival, so much so that his blood is purple,” he said.

“He called me the other night to apologise for the short notice with resigning and offered to help in the transition, which truly shows what kind of a guy he is.”

Key events, including Jaca Thursday and the Queen Crowning ceremony have been rescheduled to December.