It's been an institution on the representative calendar for well over a decade but stumps have been called on the Tamworth Junior Carnival - for 2020 anyway.
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The Tamworth Junior Cricket Association have made the tough decision to cancel the annual under-14s carnival, which was set to be played from January 6-10.
TJCA president Damian Henry said they simply "didn't get enough team nominations".
Outside of the home team, carnival regulars West Pennant Hills/Cherrybrook and Armidale were the only definite nominations.
Henry said they rang around to see if they could rustle up some more teams, but after they didn't have any success with that, they "finally bit the bullet".
"It just wasn't viable to run it with only three or four teams," he said.
The carnival has in the past attracted teams from the coast and Sydney, and even inter-state, but it has been harder to attract sides from those areas in recent years.
Henry attributed the lack of numbers to a few factors including teams opting to attend other closer carnivals and clashes with other big representative carnivals.
Being the same time as the Kookaburra Cup doesn't help.
Tamworth were for instance without three of their best players for this year's carnival due to their involvement in the Country under-14s carnival.
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Unfortunately they don't have a lot of flexibility with dates due to access to the grounds.
"Because of Country Music we can't move it," he said.
Henry said it was "very disappointing" to have to cancel the carnival but is hopeful they can get it "up and running again".
Fortunately they have been able to find an alternate carnival for the under-14s. The Donny Lewington and Peter Holmes-coached side will play in the Newcastle carnival later in the month.
The Tamworth carnival isn't the only of the annual January carnivals to be cancelled. Taree have also been forced to cancel their under-16s carnival due to the ongoing drought conditions.
They said they won't be able to get their pitches up.
It means this month's Ross Taylor Cup final, which Tamworth defeated Inverell by five wickets in, will be the 16s' last game for the season.
The 12s, 13s and 15s do however have carnivals to look forward to.
The 15s will be the first to hit the pitch in the Walter Taylor Shield, which gets underway in Armidale on Thursday.
The 12s meanwhile are headed to Lismore and the 13s Ballina. Their carnivals start next week.
