October 10, 2017
The South Burnett And Cherbourg On Show October long weekend festival committee voted to wind itself up on Tuesday.
Next year, the event will be repurposed into the South Burnett Rail Trail Festival, and a new committee will be set up to oversee it.
Committee chair Cr Kathy Duff said committee members were understandably sad to close down the six-year-old event, but believed the festival had served its purpose.
They also believed refocussing the event around the Rail Trail would be better for the region over the longer term.
“We’d like to thank everyone who took part in South Burnett and Cherbourg On Show since 2012, and assure them that if they want to be included in the new festival there will be ways to do it,” Cr Duff said.
“The new Rail Trail Festival will be a single-day event.
“That leaves two more days in the long weekend where all sorts of local events and businesses can get involved.
“The October long weekend is all about encouraging visitors to come to the South Burnett for a few days and getting locals to spend the holiday at home, and that focus won’t change just because the name does.”
Cr Duff said this year’s South Burnett and Cherbourg On Show had arguably been the biggest and most successful to date.
Apart from the official opening celebrations for the South Burnett Rail Trail which attracted an estimated 1000 people, the event had expanded to include Goomeri and Proston for the first time.
It also offered an $8000 art competition that drew a record number of entries, and a photographic competition offering cash prizes.
The new Rail Trail festival committee is expected to be formed early next year.
