Tamworth festival: Heat and drought take a toll on Peel Street numbers

While early indicators suggest numbers were not at their peak this year, council and stakeholders have a huge task ahead of them deciphering the data while taking into account the extreme heat and impact of drought on numbers and spending.

Country music manager Barry Harley said “bigger does not mean better, better means better, and that is what we aim for every year.”

“It was the hottest January on record which did put some strain on Peel Street traders, and our straw polls are indicating that while some venues are reporting less, some are reporting average and some are up,” he said.

“It certainly wasn’t bigger, but it was still a fantastic event and gave traders another great opportunity after Christmas.”

On the back of the hottest January in the history of Tamworth it was little wonder that large crowds weren’t on the street in the afternoon, although Mr Harley did take solace in the fact that the free concerts in Bicentennial Park recorded bigger figures than last year on both the opening and closing weekends.

“Those concerts are always good indicators, Fanzone was also very popular and the Family Zone also reported good crowds,” he said.

“Discretionary spending was probably also a bit down because of the drought.

“On balance it was just another year – we will have to wait for all the data to come back in before we can get a clearer picture.” 

While Tamworth residents have, as usual, been quick to voice opinions about festival operations on social media, Mr Harley has reminded those same people to make their opinions count, and they’re constructive ideas heard.

“The community, and stakeholders, will have an opportunity to voice their constructive ideas at the ‘wash-up meeting’, which we are aiming to hold in late February or early March,” he said.

“People can be very quick to complain, but not as quick to have a conversation, or talk about an idea – just criticising doesn’t help the event become any better.

“Every decision we make is well thought out and based on a variety of reasons or information that we feel gives the best experience to visitors and stakeholders – no decision is made on a whim.” 

Following the hottest festival on record there have been several voices calling for the festival to be moved to later in the year. Mr Harley can’t see that happening in the near future.

“That certainly could not be a decision made overnight,” he said.

“There are hundreds and hundreds of stakeholders that would have to be on board with that decision making, including the hundreds of artists.

“The 50^th festival in 2022 will certainly be held on the existing dates, and that milestone is something we are already starting to plan.”