Blossom festival nipped in the bud

CANCELLING the 2021 Mallee Almond Blossom Festival was a “huge disappointment” for the committee.

After months of planning, the decision to cancel the popular event set to be held in August was made on Tuesday.

Mallee Almond Blossom Festival chairperson Sharron Jury said “the current situation of restrictions, lockdown and uncertainty were major factors” in the decision.

“It was a huge disappointment, we have put a lot of work into this, meeting up regularly and doing a lot of COVID paperwork,” she said.

“However, all along we have been prepared for it. We decided to go ahead and be optimistic, but we knew it could go south.

“We were still hopeful at the start of the lockdown but as it went on and there were still numbers around, we figured there would be quite strong restrictions on numbers leading into the festival and we didn’t really see an option but to cancel it.”

Ms Jury said despite the event being cancelled, she was proud of the committee.

“Our very small committee have gone ahead and put 100 per cent into the festival and they have done a great job, they need a big pat on the back,” she said.

“We are hoping that a lot of our work has been done for next year.”

The committee will now take a break from planning before getting into organising the 2022 event at the end of the year.