Parramasala festival cancelled because of coronavirus fears
A western Sydney festival billed as a three-day extravaganza has been scrapped at the last minute because of coronavirus fears.
Parramatta
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The three-day Parramasala festival has been postponed less that 24 hours after it was due to start because of coronavirus fears.
Parramasala director Paul Osborne said it had received “significant feedback from communities” that COVID-19’s increased cases had caused growing concern.
“The Parramasala board met last night and made the difficult decision to postpone the event,’’ he said.
“Obviously we’re gutted we won’t be able to share this year’s incredible festival program with everyone but at the end of the day safety and wellbeing of our communities is of the highest importance to us.
“We will be back with the festival.’’
This year’s Parramasala at Prince Alfred Square from March 13 to 15 was planned to be the biggest yet to celebrate a decade of the event.
Parramatta Council partly funds the event and allocated about $200,000 to this year’s program.
Among the drawcards included Grammy award winners Los Amigos Invisibles, who were scheduled to perform their Latin beats.
Copious food trucks and the World Movies by the River, which showed free flicks along the banks of the Parramatta River, were also part of the fun which was due to kick off with a welcome parade on Friday night.
The World B-boy Classic breakdancing challenge was planned for Sunday.
The postponement of Parramasala comes as Labor has called for the State Government to provide a consistent approach on the cancellation of large gatherings.
Opposition health spokesman Ryan Park said several weeks ago, European countries banned gatherings of more than 1000 and Israel banned gatherings of more than 100 people.
In NSW, doubts have been cast over the Sydney Royal Easter Show, Sydney Film Festival, Sydney Fashion Week and the St Patrick’s Day parade.
But the NRL is still hosting games.
“Clearly, the message is not getting out to the public,’’ Mr Park said.
“It’s not good enough. We see schools being closed and conference events being cancelled, but major events with tens of thousands of people going ahead.”