The 31st Woodford Folk Festival was the most successful one yet, with 132,000 punters attending across six days; impressive numbers for a rural event.
This is precisely the problem facing organisers after this past week’s turnout, with Festival Director Bill Hauritz admitting the future of the festival is now murky.
“It has been a most beautiful festival in almost every way but our future is unclear”, he said in a statement.
“Raw water storage, and dusty and broken roads took the edge off what was a truly wonderful event. Dust was a big problem we have to fix, and the roads – they’re just not up to required standards. That’s just the beginning of our infrastructure issues.”
In short, the Woodford Folk Festival has outgrown its home.
So what now? If the festival is moved to a more favourable location, it completely changes identity. Growth isn’t always a good thing, especially for a rural folk festival.
Then there is the small Queensland town of Woodford to think of. The festival injected $16 million into the local economy last year, and considering audience turn out was up more than 5% this time around, that figure will grow again. If this is the festival’s last year in the town, that income disappears.
That’s obviously a big deal for a town with a population of roughly 2,500 – although the figures above do also include income pumped into surrounding towns as a result of the festival – and that’s not taking into consideration the badge of honour that comes with hosting such an internationally-prized music festival.
Despite this cloud hanging over its future, this year’s event was still an undisputed success story.
“It’s been an amazing event this year,” Hauritz says. “This festival is becoming a hub for creativity attracting some great minds. It’s been an inspiration for many of us.”
Check out the beautiful poster art below.
