Great Barrier Reef Festival Fights To Continue

Behind the delighted smiles on children’s faces, the colourful creations that parade the main street, the fireworks and the fairground rides, is an army of dedicated volunteers who make the Great Barrier Reef Festival (GBRF) possible each year.

Many of these volunteers contribute vast amounts of free labour, do much of the heavy lifting and drive the event from within – their efforts often unseen by festivalgoers.

And while the organisers and volunteers were congratulated on the success of the 2024 GBRF which took place over the weekend, a social media post claiming the festival would not continue next year spread like wildfire through the community on Sunday evening.

Despite the post being nothing but a rumour, the Festival committee has since stated that it unearthed a private struggle and has opened up the conversation about the continued feasibility of the event.

Festival Chairwoman, Margie Murphy, stepped forward on Monday afternoon to confirm that although she doesn’t know who started the rumour, she did appreciate the subject needed to be raised.

“I don't know the person who posted on social media that this would be the last Reef Festival, and that statement definitely didn't come from either myself as festival chairwoman or, to my knowledge, from any of my core committee,” she explained.

“That being said, there's at least one point every year where we find ourselves saying: "never again", as I think anyone who's ever organised an event will understand!

“To most people the Reef Festival is a fun weekend but, to us, it's a year-round un-paid job. It takes a massive amount of (mostly) woman-hours to put an event like this together, and these days there are fewer of us than ever to carry that load.”

Margie commented that, before the current organisational structure took over 15 years ago, the festival was operated by a paid organiser.

Since this has changed, Margie and other local individuals and businesses are contributing their free time, and resources to the point where it costs their businesses money in order to run the festival each year.

This has been compounded by the fact the Festival lost its Queensland government funding for marketing because it had reached the maximum number of years it is allowed to attain this type of funding.

The core festival committee is down to four people who, on top of the festival marketing and social media, do the event planning, permits, contracts, grant applications and reporting, sponsorship agreements, website development, graphics, ordering, entertainment bookings, accounting, fundraising and so much more, all unpaid, while doing their regular jobs.

While the committee appreciates all the contributions, they wanted people to understand how sponsorships do not always equate to cash.

“Even though we're doing our bit for free and receive many in-kind contributions to offset costs, it still takes a lot of money to run a community event” explained Margie.

“It's important for people to realise, that these 'funding streams' don't necessarily equate to cash, or cover many of our costs, even when they do.”

“Our Council contributions are a good example of this. This year Whitsunday Regional Council gave us mostly "in-kind" support - things like putting up our banners, organising extra rubbish collection, and helping with the traffic management we must have in place when we close the main street.

“These are all important things that have a cost associated with them, and that Council is perfectly placed to help with.

“The Council also gave us $5000, but when you consider that doesn't even cover the public liability for the event which is $6000, it puts what we're up against into perspective.

Margie reinforces the fact that she is very grateful for the sponsors, Council departments and local businesses that got behind the event this year, she simply wants to let people know they are struggling, especially as the festival continues to grow.

“So, on that note, will there be a Great Barrier Reef Festival next year?” asks Margie.

“There's no doubt a few things need to change going forward, and there are some conversations we very much need to have, both internally and with our working partners, but for the sake of the community, and everything we've built up over 24 years, I very much hope so.”

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