{"id":418671,"date":"2025-12-02T04:04:22","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T04:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/418671\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T04:04:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T04:04:22","slug":"folk-rhythm-and-life-festival-cancelled-at-last-minute-due-to-permit-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/418671\/","title":{"rendered":"Folk Rhythm and Life Festival cancelled at last minute due to permit problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

Organisers of a popular north-east Victorian music festival have been forced to cancel the event just days before it was due to begin, after a permit dispute with the local council.<\/p>\n

The Folk, Rhythm and Life (FRL) festival was due to kick off on Friday at the Bilyana Natural Amphitheatre in Eldorado, near Wangaratta.<\/p>\n

But organisers said parking and fire safety concerns had forced them to cancel the three-day event and refund 530 tickets valued at $110,000.<\/p>\n

Festival director Hamish Skermer said he sought to amend the permit conditions to allow onsite parking and had flagged that with the Rural City of Wangaratta months in advance.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Hamish Skermer has been co-directing the festival for almost 30 years. (Supplied: Hamish Skermer)<\/p>\n

“I was told that because I nominated to change from offsite parking to onsite parking on November 10, I hadn’t given them enough time,” he said.<\/p>\n

“However, I was able to supply documentary evidence that I’d been raising it as a distinct option since September 15.”<\/p>\n

Rural City of Wangaratta Mayor Irene Grant said the changes were submitted too late for proper assessment.<\/p>\n

“All I can say at this stage is that we’re working through the permit conditions,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cr Grant said.<\/p>\n

“Some of the conditions had been changed at a late stage, so we need to work through those and ensure whatever needs to be in place is in place.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Archie Roach played at the Folk, Rhythm and Life music festival in Eldorado before he died in 2022. (Supplied: Hamish Skermer)<\/p>\n

Festival fire safety<\/p>\n

Mr Skermer said he believed the parking issue was not the only factor.<\/p>\n

He said concerns raised by the Country Fire Authority (CFA) may also have influenced the council’s decision, despite the fire authority not attending the site.<\/p>\n

“In fact, we’ve been cut out by the CFA, who’ve written to us and said they will not engage with us at all,” Mr Skermer said.<\/p>\n

CFA Assistant Chief Fire Officer Stewart Kreltszheim confirmed the CFA had provided advice to council about the festival’s event management plan, off the back of similar concerns in 2023.<\/a><\/p>\n

“CFA raised concerns about details relating to fires, emergency access and crowd safety, particularly during the Fire Danger Period,” he said.<\/p>\n

“While emergency services do not issue event permits, our advice is always based on the protection of human life.<\/p>\n

“We commend the Rural City of Wangaratta for making a difficult decision in the interest of public safety.”<\/p>\n

Mr Skermer said the cancellation of the event, which had been running since 1996, would have a significant impact on the local economy.<\/p>\n

“All the caterers, buses and supply chains \u2014 that’s money no longer being spent in Wangaratta and surrounds,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s a huge injection of cash into the community that meets all the requirements of tourism development, and quite frankly it really is a disgrace.”<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

The festival has been held at the at the Bilyana Natural Amphitheatre since 1996. (Supplied: Hamish Skermer)<\/p>\n

Artists gutted<\/p>\n

It was not the first time this year that a regional Victorian music festival had been cancelled due to local council planning concerns.<\/p>\n

In March, the Esoteric Festival in the tiny town of Donald was called off<\/a> at the 11th hour after 8,000 tickets had been sold.<\/p>\n

The “doof” event brought in an estimated $15 million to the community and was its main annual source of income.<\/p>\n

Musicians and long-time FRL festival supporters said this week’s decition had left them devastated.<\/p>\n

Performer Sarah Carroll, who has been involved since the festival’s inception, told ABC Statewide Mornings her family had been preparing for months.<\/p>\n

“Our sons had organised their bands to come up and play,” she said.<\/p>\n

“The boys have been coming to the festival since they were babies.<\/p>\n

“We’re all dreadfully disappointed and really sad that this change has happened at such a late stage.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

Liv Cartledge was scheduled to perform at the festival. (Supplied: Liv Cartledge)<\/p>\n

Beechworth singer-songwriter Liv Cartledge said she was “gutted” for artists, volunteers and the community.<\/p>\n

“It’s unbelievable this could happen at such a late stage,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

she said.<\/p>\n

“But it’s a tale as old as time \u2014 this isn’t the first time a local council has made it hard for the arts community to thrive.”<\/p>\n

The festival was cancelled in 2023 due to concerns over fire risks.<\/p>\n

She said FRL had long been “unmatched” in the region’s music scene.<\/p>\n

“Artists from all over come to Eldorado for FRL,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s been one of those ongoing opportunities for musicians that is now not going ahead.”<\/p>\n

Mr Skermer said he hoped to reschedule the event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Organisers of a popular north-east Victorian music festival have been forced to cancel the event just days before…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":418672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,195927,195923,195926,195924,195928,4085,50,195925],"class_list":{"0":"post-418671","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-bilyana-natural-amphitheatre","10":"tag-eldorado","11":"tag-festival-cancelled","12":"tag-folk-rhythm-and-life-festival","13":"tag-hamish-skermer","14":"tag-music-festival","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-victorian-country-music-festival"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115647996299625925","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}