Wimmera Machinery Field Days 2022 cancelled

The Field Days organising committee has made the “difficult decision” to cancel the event for the second year in a row.

The annual Wimmera Machinery Field Days event has been cancelled.

Organisers confirmed today that the event, which is in its 59th year and was due to go ahead on March 1 and 2, will not proceed due to coronavirus concerns.

“There have been so many aspects to consider, but at the end of the day we have a duty of

care to our local community,” Field days president Sam Eagle said.

“We have exhibitors travelling to the region from all over Australia; it’s not just local

businesses attending.

“We were also concerned about the number of volunteers needed to run the event and the

potential impact of isolation rules in the lead-up to and during the event,” Mr Eagle said.

Mr Eagle said the committee left its decision as late as possible in the hope that the impact

from the Omicron strain of coronavirus would have diminished, but in the end the decision was made to cancel.

Wimmera’s Field Days were last held in 2020. Picture: Zoe Phillips

The Field Days committee in a statement said it worked in close consultation with health organisations and personnel before making its decision.

“We understand it is extremely disappointing for our exhibitors, stakeholders, sponsors,

supporters and community volunteers. We are devastated for our local businesses that have

always supported the field days,” he said.

Events Manager Vanessa Lenehan asked all exhibitors to be patient with staff as they worked

through the process of undoing the months of work that had gone into this year’s event.

This year will be the second consecutive year the event has been cancelled due to Covid concerns.

The coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of all field days in Victoria last year when the state was placed into Stage 3 restrictions in March.