Traditional Tamworth Country Music Festival Cavalcade cancelled, with new 'static' event announced

Festival manager Barry Harley said despite the cavalcade being an iconic feature of the festival for many years, it's been under tough scrutiny from a safety perspective due to vehicle movements for some time.

"During the 2020 festival there was a safety audit conducted on the cavalcade and it exposed quite a few areas that we are just simply not able to manage," he said.

"The end result is we cannot guarantee the safety of the participants or the visitors with a cavalcade, so we can't manage a cavalcade in its current form."

Mr Harley said the cavalcade as we know it with trucks and cars down Peel Street is unlikely to return.

"But that's not saying that a cavalcade in a different form or location couldn't be considered - but for 2022 it's impossible for us to manage a safe event," he said.

Organisers now turn their attention towards a brand new Community Celebration and Festival Community Markets event in collaboration with the Market Project.

The day will feature community showcase stands, market stalls, performances by cavalcade regulars and cameo artist appearances.

"Because we know there are a lot of community-based organisations that thrive on that exposure in the cavalcade, we've developed a static version to be held over a few hours," Mr Harley said.

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"We would imagine it will end up being a nice carnival atmosphere which will allow community artisans to expose their wares."

The event will be held in Toyota Park on Saturday 22 January from 8am to 12pm.

Local schools, community groups or associations that usually take part in the cavalcade will have the opportunity to be part of the new event.

The cavalcade was cancelled in 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions, and 2022 will be only the second time since the 1980s that the event has been cancelled.

Registrations for the 50th Anniversary Community Celebration can be made through the Tamworth Country Music Festival website.

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