I do not know who comes up with the stats on the festival, but they should talk to the people who visit and the people who have been here from its inception. As for saying that it was like a festival from the 90s, come on! 

In the ’80s and ’90s you could not walk down Peel St without bumping into someone because the crowd was so thick. That was both day and night. There were buskers every 10 feet – the good, the bad and the ugly. It was a great atmosphere. 

Every venue was huge, parking could not be found within blocks of the town centre. Fairs and sideshows reigned supreme – all gone. Walk down the street at any time and the centre is almost vacant. Parking is in abundance, buskers are spaced many, many metres apart. It was easy to get a spot in any of the pubs and clubs. All these things add up to one thing – the festival is not what it used to be. Council interference has soured people’s taste.

 Now, before you yell scream, “where does he come up with this?” 

Well, it is from my own personal experience. I have been here from the first festivals. I have seen it mature from a drunken orgy to a family-friendly 10 days. But, over the past five years, interference from outside people has set a rot in and all the adjusted stats cannot override what we can see with our own eyes. 

Also people speak and the many guests that I talk to who have been coming to the festival for decades say the same: “Gee isn’t it quiet, not like it used to be”.

Now I have not got the solution to the problem, but I would appreciate not being treated as a fool and being told that it was one of the best festivals for some time. 

For any one that has been around Tamworth for some time knows that it was not. Time to tell the truth and find a solution.