Victorian businesses prepare for events, festivals and functions to restart

Victorian events could soon be back up and running, with the government tipped to announce the restart of the struggling sector after months of devastating shutdown.

Jan Juc locals are celebrating the reinvigoration of their community. Picture: Alex Coppel.

Festivals, exhibitions and big business events are finally set to fire up in Victoria.

Industry insiders and the State Government have tipped an announcement on restarting the multi-billion dollar events sector is imminent, after almost a year of devastating shutdown.

The Victorian Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) and event operators last week met with the State Government to map plans for reopening the nearly $13 billion business events sector, as well as festivals of all kinds.

While it was great news Victoria’s hallmark sporting events, such as the Boxing Day Test, Grand Prix and tennis would return, there were scores of smaller events and festivals which were still desperately waiting to learn their fates, VTIC chief Felicia Mariani said.

“The regional events, the festivals which take place across our city and the business events, have been given no timeline and no plan as yet for how they are going to be able to activate,” she said.

But the State Government yesterday suggested an easing of restrictions was not far away.

“We’re working closely with businesses and industries and consultations are underway to shape how COVID normal will look for the events industry moving forward and to ensure any event that is staged is safe for organisers and participants,” a spokeswoman said.

For Victorian family business Harry the Hirer, which supplies equipment for exhibitions, events and functions of all sizes, a restart date can’t come soon enough.

Felicia Mariani. Picture: Supplied

The company’s revenue plummeted more than 90 per cent this year, while its workforce was slashed from 1200 to just 50 people when COVID hit, chief executive Gab Robinson said.

Many event businesses were facing almost a whole year with no revenue, he said.

It was his understanding large outdoor events would be allowed to proceed from January and indoor events after that, Mr Robinson, who has been involved in high-level talks, said.

“The events industry was the first to be closed when restrictions came in and is going to be the last to return,” he said.

Ms Mariani said until large indoor business events were allowed in Victoria, states like New South Wales and Queensland would “continue to dominate … attracting tens-of-millions of dollars of our business events to their destinations, where organisers can find more certainty and surety”.

Victoria was “dangerously exposed” to losing its international reputation as a functions and festivals mecca, for good, if it did not fire up very soon, she said.

While last week’s meeting with the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions had led to “some first steps finally being defined” for reopening, not all areas of the events sector stood to benefit, with some of Melbourne’s biggest and most well-known function and exhibition spaces left out in the cold, Ms Mariani said.

“While these guidelines will provide some relief to business events taking place in hospitality venues and some conferencing facilities across the state, they leave our major business events venues like the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, The Showgrounds, Melbourne Olympic Park and Federation Square, still lacking,” she said.

Business Events Council of Australia figures reveal 57 per cent of business functions planned for Victoria in the first half of 2021 have either been cancelled, moved interstate, postponed or moved online, in a massive blow to the State’s economy.

The RipCurl Pro is a major drawcard for the Surf Coast.

Business events were the highest yielding sector of Victoria’s visitor economy last year, contributing $12.85 billion, employing 85,000 people and attracting 12.67 million delegates and exhibitors to the State, tourism data shows.

The sector also buoyed country areas, with an estimated $475 million injection into the regional Victorian economy and supporting thousands of jobs.

And Ms Mariani said music, arts, sporting and cultural festivals were the heartbeat of many Victorian communities, from the Melbourne CBD and suburbs to regional centres and small country and coastal towns.

The Rip Curl Pro was part of the identity of Victoria’s Surf Coast, while Port Fairy was famous for its folk music festival and picturesque Metung for its annual food and wine festival.

Across the State, small businesses had come to rely on the annual influx of visitors for festivals and trade events to boost their bottom lines, she said.

SURF COAST TOASTS TO THE GOOD LIFE

Here’s cheers to freedom and friends.

In what organisers hope will be a world record-making happy hour, the nearly 33,500 residents of Victoria’s Surf Coast Shire are being called upon to simultaneously raise a glass at the end of their driveway, or in their street, to toast a return to the good life.

The mass event, planned for 6pm on Friday, December 4, is designed to restore a sense of “community and connectedness” to the regional shire, which includes the coastal towns of Torquay, Anglesea, Aireys Inlet and Lorne.

After nearly a year of isolation, it was important for neighbours to come together again “and just say hello”, one of the organisers, Nicole Dickmann said.

Those with guitars were encouraged to bring their instruments to the footpath and play, in what would hopefully spark impromptu singalongs, she said.

And socially-distanced snacks on the sidewalk were welcome.

“People are in need of just getting out to celebrate … but there’s also the fact many people are still feeling alone and really not over the trials of the last year yet, so we hope this might start to take a bit of that loneliness away,” Ms Dickmann said.

Jan Juc residents are creating their own ‘Happy Hour’. Picture: Alex Coppel.

“Just going to your kerb to say ‘hello’ to your neighbours seems almost too simple but it’s our hope it will snowball.”

The Hello Surfcoast Day event had been planned by COVID support agency Surfcoast Angels, in concert with two other volunteer organisations, Feed Me Surf Coast and the Torquay Community House, she said.

“A lot of us are feeling that COVID has torn apart lives and left a gaping hole in our community.

“Distancing has created an inability to hug and connect, and mask wearing has taken away our smiles. We are all well aware that loneliness is ripe in our neighbourhood and it’s taking its toll on many,” Ms Dickmann said.

“We hope to help our community connect again and to let everyone know that people do care. Every single ‘hello’ is a reminder that we are not alone.”

‘Street champions’ were being sought for the event, to help with co-ordinating their road’s happy hour, she said.

Whether it was sharing a drink with neighbours or a song on December 4, it would be a chance for residents of the shire to forget the past year for a while, and smile, Ms Dickmann said.

The Farmer and The Cook is the brainchild of owners Katrina and Neil Conn. Picture: Nicole Cleary

TOURIST REVIVAL FOR HARD-HIT METUNG

First it was surrounded by bushfire and then hit by a pandemic, but the idyllic East Gippsland lakes town of Metung is fast returning to the tourist mecca it once was.

So confident are locals of Metung’s post-COVID revival, new businesses are being born.

In the heart of the picturesque town, a mini farmers market cum gourmet deli aptly named The Farmer and The Cook opened in September.

Several weeks later, it can’t bake enough bread to keep up with demand.

“We bake our bread fresh in the store every morning and it sells out every day no matter how much we cook,” said Katrina Conn, who runs the business with her farmer husband, Neil Conn.

A hospitality industry veteran, Ms Conn said the inspiration for The Farmer and The Cook came from watching the popularity of farmers markets grow and grow.

“We wanted to be able to take that experience and make it available in a store. We offer in -store tastings, so that people can source and try products every day … ranging from locally grown produce to Australian-made gourmet smallgoods,” she said.

Support from the local community had been “amazing”, Ms Conn said.

“We are often told that Metung has been waiting 30 years for a deli so it makes us really feel welcome,” she said.

“We are, of course, living in hope that tourists will also start returning soon, as we would love to see the town thrive and see what the potential of the business really is.”

Nicole Bell is back in her nail salon. Picture: Wayne Taylor.

MANY MANI’S AND PEDIS AS NAIL SALONS REOPEN

Pedicures and acrylics are back as Melburnians rush to nail their post-lockdown look.

Nicole Bell said her Hampton business Boutique Nails and Beauty has been ”super busy” with regulars returning alongside new customers, who fell in love with her @boutiquenailbeauty posts of nail art during lockdown.

“There’s been lots of smiling faces and a lot of regulars said it was the first thing they wanted to do,” she said.

“We love nail art here so some just came in and said ‘give me the works’.

“We’ve done long acrylics, coffin nails with glitter, stamping and embedding things into the nail.

“We’ve also had lots of pedicures as it’s that time of year.”

While lockdown gave her a chance to refresh after so many years of working hard on her business, the Hampton business owner missed having a creative outlet and said she wouldn’t have survived without grants and JobKeeper.

“I’m very creative — I used to be a graphic designer — so not having that every day, it wasn’t a great time,” she said. “Mentally, I feel amazing (to be open).”

– Sarah Booth

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