AFTER COVID-19 stumped organisers last year, Ouyen’s popular Mallee Root Festival will be back in 2021 – but not quite as soon as fans might expect.
With pandemic restrictions changing almost weekly and crowd caps on events, organisers decided to hold off for a while longer after getting bitten by a last-minute cancellation last year.
Instead of its usual spot in mid-March, festival president Nathan Grayling said punters should put the festival in their calendars for AFL Grand Final weekend.
“Rather than just cancelling it, we’ve decided to postpone it to the public holiday of the grand final, so September 24,” he said.
As well as a new date, this year’s festival will take place at a new location on the banks of Ouyen Lake.
“It’s a nice spot for it,” Mr Grayling said.
“Because of COVID we weren’t really confident, with the restrictions, to go ahead as planned at the front of the hotel.
“Because we’re going to be so far out in the open that’s going to make it a lot easier, there’ll be nothing actually indoors.
“That’ll actually allow us a lot more space up there to work around things and make sure that this one actually does go ahead.”
This year’s postponement comes after last year’s Mallee Root Festival was cancelled just days out from the event.
“When we got knocked back last year, it was pretty hard,” Mr Grayling said.
“We got shut down a week before our festival last year and we had everything all in place, so a lot of work just got knocked on its head.”
But Mr Grayling was optimistic the 2021 festival would go ahead.
Some new events are also in the works for the postponed festival – and for one crowd favourite, Mr Grayling promised a year-round training facility at the lake.
“Obviously the stump toss is going to be a big one,” he said.
“We’ll have the arena set up all year so people can actually come along and have a practice throw any time they’re in Ouyen.
“We have live music and the stump toss and we’ll be incorporating a few new events, like a fishing comp, and we’ve got the golf course up there as well. As for any other events, we’ll start releasing them over the next month or so.”
But Mr Grayling said the festival’s roots were in the music and the family-friendly community atmosphere.
“It’s all a family-friendly event,” he said.
“There’s a lot of free activities for the kids.
“We’ll start releasing a bit more stuff soon.”
