BALLARAT'S Frolic Festival, scheduled for November is the latest in a long line of major events to be scrapped, with organisers confirming a new program is being devised for June 2021.
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It comes amid serious concerns for a host of late spring and summer events pushing ahead.
Already, the Ballarat Show and SpringFest are gone, and with the loss of Frolic Festival, it leaves just the Ballarat Cup, which at this stage could run without crowds, all that is left in spring.
Major events in summer including Carols By Candlelight, the Australia Day Fireworks and possibly January's Road National could also be in danger should restrictions fail to ease in coming weeks.
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Frolic Festival Director Jay Morrison said three plans for this year's event had to be cancelled, which had meant the postponement was the only option that remained.
"We had ideas to run events with up to 40 people, then up to 20 people, but given that so many of the performers are from out of town, it just wasn't financially feasible for us to push on this year," Mr Morrison said.
"We are disappointed that we won't be able to share with the community all of the exciting events and artists we had for 2020.
"But there is a silver lining, postponing gives us the opportunity to experiment with delivering something very queer and radical next June that we've been thinking about for a while."
At this stage, the Frolic Art Show will still be going ahead in November at the Art Gallery of Ballarat.
The Frolic announcement comes as another major regional festival is cancelled, that being the Port Fairy Folk Festival, which was scheduled for March.
President of the Port Fairy Folk Festival Committee, John Young said this was the festival's most difficult decision to make in its 44-year history.
''Health and safety are at the forefront for the Port Fairy community. With restrictions on gatherings and too many uncertainties attached to the current global pandemic, we had to make this choice," Mr Young said.
Cycling Australia is also weighing up its decision as to whether Ballarat's Road Nationals can go ahead in January. Restrictions on interstate and international visitors could play a major role in the national titles unfold.
One event which is still pencilled in the calendar is Rock Ballarat in February.
Rock Ballarat committee member Tracey Spencer said at this stage plans were in place to run, but a host of contingencies such as amount of people in venues and whether or not streets will be able to be blocked off, are still being worked on.
"We are working with the City of Ballarat who have been outstanding in their support," she said. "We just don't know how the festival will run and what restrictions will be in place, we just have to keep listening to the government
"We've got it pencilled in, people just need to behave and fingers crossed we can get out and have some fun."
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