New Toowoomba festival Autumn Feast seeking more than $250,000 to get event running in 2024
A new concept for a festival next year hopes to become a flagship event for the Toowoomba region is trying to secure its sponsorship funding as soon as possible.
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Toowoomba’s newest festival celebrating local food and culture in a typically slow tourism period could inject upwards of $14m into the region’s economy — but only if it can get the funding soon.
Autumn Feast, a collaboration between the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce and Dine Darling Downs, is being spruiked as the missing link in the Garden City’s events and tourism calendar.
The 10-day festival in April is being touted as a new tourism drawcard for the region during a traditionally quiet season, focusing on local art, music and food in Toowoomba and surrounding communities.
New analysis suggests the event could generate about $14.5m for Toowoomba from local, regional and state visitors and create work for about 130 new jobs.
This includes $3.5m spent on the accommodation sector in Toowoomba.
Chamber CEO Todd Rohl is currently lobbying the Toowoomba Regional Council become the naming rights sponsor, arguing an investment from various sources of upwards of $250,000 would deliver returns dozens of times over.
“The really critical part is the initial funding, so we can actually get cracking — it will take a fair while to get everything together but once we get the okay, we’ll be up and running,” he said.
“Council plays a significant role in that, we want the council to be the naming rights partner because it’s an event run by locals for locals, so they are essential to the running of this.”
When asked about the validity of the figures considering council estimates the value of the 30-day Carnival of Flowers at $22m, Mr Rohl said the festival would still deliver far more than the original investment.
“This idea of promoting the season of Autumn is more than 30 years old,’ he said.
“Chamber was instrumental in Carnival and we want to be instrumental in delivering this, and we need our local government on board.”
Toowoomba businesswoman Petria Cumner, who owns picnic and fashion accessories company Stirling and Truffles, said an autumnal festival would be a big boost to local operators.
For more information, head to the Chamber website.
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