December 13, 2018
Murgon’s popular Christmas Carnival – one of the town’s iconic annual events – will not be held this year.
The Carnival was planned to be held on Friday, December 14, but was cancelled on Thursday morning due to forecast heavy rain.
The cancellation was announced by Christmas Carnival chair Mark Smith after a meeting of the organising committee.
Mark said the Weather Bureau was forecasting a 90 per cent chance of up to 50mm of rain for Friday.
“Our Christmas Carnival has been washed out the past three years,” Mark said.
“If we pressed ahead, we’d be looking at a $30,000 loss.
“We had the opportunity to reschedule it to next Monday, but the weather forecast for that day is just as bad at the moment.”
Mark said the decision to cancel this year’s Carnival was taken at 9:30am.
“We know this year’s cancellation will disappoint many people, but we hope things will be back to normal next year,” he said.
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Hivesville’s Christmas Carnival, which is also planned to be held this Friday, will go ahead even if it rains – but will move to a different venue.
Instead of its usual location at Anzac Park in Main Street, this year’s Carnival will move across the road to the rear of the Hivesville Hotel.
The carnival features carol singing, a sausage sizzle, cakes and other baked goods prepared by the Hivesville QCWA and a visit from Santa Claus with gifts for children, followed by a night of entertainment at the hotel.
This year, Santa will be arriving in a fire truck.
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