By Taylah Eastwell and Jed Lanyon
Community events across the Yarra Ranges have been cancelled in the wake of the Chief Medical Officer’s advice for the cancellation of mass public gatherings of over 500 people taking place.
Yarra Ranges Council announced that all council events and large gatherings would be postponed for one month from Friday 13 March in line with state and federal government public health advice.
Healesville Rotary’s highly anticipated Dogs Day Out was forced to postpone under 24 hours out from the event due to the increasing risk of COVID-19.
“The committee held an emergency meeting earlier this afternoon (Saturday 14 March) and took immediate action following recent changes to government advice levels,” a statement from Healesville Rotary said.
“While this was a tough decision to make, the safety of all of our guests is our top priority. The Rotary Club of Healesville will now look to reschedule the event and will be announcing more details as they come to hand.”
Wandin Rotary’s run of bad luck continued as their Custom Car and Bike Show was cancelled for the second consecutive month. The show was set to take place on Wednesday 18 March, while poor weather conditions prevented the previous show from going ahead in February.
Gembrook’s So Long Summer event, set to take place on 15 March, was also cancelled after 10 months of planning. Proceeds from the event were intended to go towards Gembrook Preschool, Gembrook Primary School and Gembrook CFA.
Warburton’s Riverfolk Festival was cancelled on Friday afternoon, less than 24 hours before it was set to take place. Crank Up will not go ahead this weekend as the Upper Yarra Historical Society used roadside signage to alert the public about the cancellation.
Yarra Valley ECOSS pulled the plug early for their annual Ecotopia event, which was scheduled for Sunday 29 March.
“It is with great sadness that we have had to make the difficult decision to cancel Ecotopia 2020,” Yarra Valley ECOSS’s Chelsea McNabb said.
“Hosting Ecotopia with less than 500 people would not be viable for our food vendors, market stallholders and performers, and basically unmanageable for us with such an open site. We also feel it was vital for us to make this decision before vendors purchase food.”
Ms McNabb said that other Yarra Valley ECOSS events would remain “on hold” for the time being.
Relay for Life in Knox was cancelled following a decision by Cancer Council Victoria to cancel all Relay for Life events for March and April.
“Given the high risk to public health currently posed by COVID-19, and keeping in mind that many who attend our events are in a higher risk group, we know the decision to cancel Relay events is in the best interests of our community,” Cancer Council Victoria’s CEO Todd Harper said.
While TarraWarra Museum of Art remains open, it was announced that the Open Weekend event scheduled for 21-22 March, would no longer be taking place.
