FIESTA La Peel has outgrown its home on the main street.
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Support for the multicultural street food fest has grown at a rapid rate since its inception in 2014.
After next year’s, if it grows further, we’ll have to see what happens and take it year to year.
- Organiser Carol Hughes
Since then, the event has occupied Peel St between White and Fitzroy streets, while locals praised the concept, there was some backlash over the lack of space at this year’s festival.
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The 2017 edition of Fiesta drew its biggest crowd to date, with organisers confirming to The Leader 10,331 people checked out the event between 4pm and 8.30pm on Saturday.
Tamworth Regional Council event coordinator, Carol Hughes, said she totally agreed there was a lack of space and plans were already in the works to make sure the 2018 Fiesta is more spread out.
Next year will be a pivotal moment for the street, which has quickly become one of council’s most popular events.
Fiesta will turn a corner, literally, sprawling the event from its traditional Peel St home into the revamped Fitzroy St pedestrian mall.
“There’ll be more electricity available, so we’ll be able to have more stalls,” Mrs Hughes said.
“And it’ll help the businesses in Fitzroy St.
“After next year’s, if it grows further, we’ll have to see what happens and take it year to year.”
She said it was initially the plan to also occupy Fitzroy St for this year, but that proposal was canned with upgrades on the street set to be completed by December.
Mrs Hughes said organisers anticipated Fiesta to be bigger, once again, but they didn’t expect the unprecedented amount of locals and visitors streaming through the gates.
“Every single year it has grown,” Mrs Hughes said.
While some took to social media to air their concerns about the pedestrian congestion, Mrs Hughes believed it didn’t take too much away from the event.
Information collected through a lucky door prize at Fiesta found people had travelled from as far afield as Melbourne and Sydney for the event.
Closer to home, it drew in visitors from Inverell, Armidale, Gunnedah and Dubbo.
“It’s a win-win for the community,” Mrs Hughes said.
“These people would be spending money on fuel, accommodation and maybe breakfast in town the following day.”