Willowfest looks at calendar change

THE Willowfest Australian Cricket Championships will not go ahead at Christmas, and are undergoing changes for the future.

The four-day carnival of cricket, which started more than 40 years ago, is usually held across grounds in Sunraysia in the days after Christmas and before the new year.

The current committee, however, is discussing a change in dates.

Willowfest chairman Peter Shadwick confirmed there was no date as yet for the next championships, however options discussed include holding the carnival either at the beginning, or the tail end, of the local cricket season.

This means the earliest Willowfest would return, following last year’s cancelled event, would be October 2022, although a final decision won’t be made until the new year.

Shadwick said there were multiple reasons for the decision.

“Where we’re at, given COVID and the heat at that time of year, the committee decided not to hold Willowfest in its existing format,” he said.

“The last event that ran in 2019 saw a lot of heat-outs and the numbers hadn’t been quite as high as in the past, so we’re going through the process now of the direction the carnival will go.

“I think also the fact that we’re coming out of COVID restrictions and can travel more freely, a lot of people locally will probably want to try and get away over that period.

“We’re looking to potentially move move the championships to the start or the end of the season, but obviously that also relies on a lot of other factors, including the availability of grounds and the impact of football as well.

“The committee will meet after Christmas and hopefully come up with a scenario that we can work with in the new year.”

Shadwick said while plans had not been finalised, the carnival could lean more into attracting the over-50 demographic to the region.

“These are the guys who are more likely to come and stay in the community for longer, potentially bringing their families as well,” he said.

“There are also over-50, over-60 and over-70 state and national championships that happen so it could be a real opportunity to get these guys to come to the area as part of their lead-in to tournaments.

“It’s all still up in the air at the moment but that is one way we’re looking at it.”

Shadwick is also a Sunraysia Cricket Association committee member, which he said should help with the alignment of both competitions.