Ballarat music festival Jam at the Dam will not go ahead in 2017 after the City of Ballarat deemed the festival’s Invermay site unsuitable for public gatherings.
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The festival began back in 2013 as a private party and steadily built over its four-year existence, with crowds of up to 400 people attending the last two installments.
Following the 2015 event festival organisers were contacted by the City of Ballarat and advised they would require council approval to hold the event in 2016.
Event organiser Jack White said he was notified one week out from the 2016 event in February that the council had denied their request to hold a public, however they were allowed to continue as a private event.
After again making contact with council for the 2017 event, Mr White was notified the festival would not be given the go-ahead due to its location.
“After the third event (2015) they said next year we’d have to get the permits for a public event, and we put our applications in with three months notice for the fourth event,” Mr White said.
“When we made contact this time they said it was technically a farming-residential zone so they couldn’t pass it.”
Local and national bands such as Tully On Tully, Apes, The Dead Salesmen, Yard Apes and the Ballarat Ska Union have all graced the stage at the festival.
In a written statement, City of Ballarat acting chief executive Terry Demeo said “The City of Ballarat received an application for a Place of Public Entertainment (POPE) permit and it was determined under the Ballarat Planning Scheme that a planning permit was also required. The organisers did not obtain a planning permit; therefore, the POPE permit was not processed”.