Festival of Food and Wine: ‘Refresh’ will miss the mark if it skips high-profile music

Toowoomba Regional Council needs to think hard about its decision to “refresh” the Festival of Food and Wine, which primarily seems to be designed to water back its high-profile entertainment. Here’s why.

The council is at a crossroads when it comes to the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers, and I’m not sure it realises it.

If the sponsorship prospectus and the vague words from councillors are to be believed, the Festival of Food and Wine is heading for a “refresh” in 2025.

Let’s be clear – it sounds on every level like a downgrade.

The event appears to have been scaled back to only two days, and if the holding name is also to be believed, will primarily focus on “local tunes”.

(From left) Georgie Waters, Malise Salter and Amy Briggs. Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers Festival of Food and Wine. Friday, September 13, 2024. Picture: Nev Madsen

I’m at a loss to understand what this festival is without the usual roster of high-profile music talent.

Festival line-ups are undoubtedly a delicate balance, and I’m sure someone reading this will scoff at that label.

But even if they aren’t for you (and many of them aren’t for me either), you cannot deny the weight that acts like The Whitlams, The Church, John Farnham, The Living End, The Temper Trap and Mashed ‘N’ Kutcher bring to this event.

You cannot recreate that with local talent – an incredibly important part of the festival that is well-served by the popular parkland entertainment.

The council claims people walked out before some of the headline acts, but I’d question how many tickets they would have sold in the first place without the bill.

It also highlights the $90,000 loss on the event, a small portion of the $1.3m the whole carnival costs the council.

That just sounds like a good investment to me – especially when you take into account the cultural benefit that comes with hosting a music festival.

Moving away from this aspect of the festival should also ring alarm bells for anyone who is serious about attracting people under the age of 35.

More than half of the attendees of the event in 2024 were in this age bracket.

It is my belief you are going to see a massive shift in demographics for this “refresh” if you dramatically scale back the entertainment offerings.

It is interesting the council has no plans to alter any other event – most of which skew far older.

What is the future of the Carnival of Flowers in 10-20 years if you aren’t getting the younger generation interested right now?

Toowoomba is well under-served by this type of event, and the potential downgrade of Food and Wine is another nail in the coffin.

Keen festival punters would have also noticed Red Hot Summer is skipping the Garden City in 2025.

Is there really no room for a large-scale music festival? I find that extremely hard to believe.

I hope the council thinks long and hard about this decision – once it’s gone, it will be hard to get it back.