Yandina festival postponed

President John O’Leary and Vice-president Pat Cordwell.

Uncertainty regarding COVID-19 restrictions has caused the postponement of a festival to celebrate Yandina’s 150th Year. 

“We had been very much looking forward to holding a huge celebration for Yandina, but the ongoing uncertainty around the COVID situation has made it extremely difficult,” said Yandina 150 Year Street Fair Celebration Committee Chairman, John O’Leary.

The committee regretfully made the decision this month. The original date for the celebration was 20th September this year and was going to be combined with the annual Street Fair, which is traditionally held in August. 

“The original September 20 (2020) date was chosen because it was the closest date to the Yandina proclamation on the 23rd September 1870,” Mr O’Leary said. “We were anticipating crowds of up to 10,000 people for the duration of the event but we all felt that it was just too risky, especially with the ongoing lockdowns around the country. 

“It would also be very difficult to organise such a large scale event and do it justice in such a short time frame. It is just too much of a gamble.”

Fellow committee member Rev Dave Tidey, of the Yandina Baptist Church said the State and Federal Governments had issued stages of restrictions being relaxed, but the event would not comply with any of those stages.  “The closest we come is being defined as an Expo, but that style of event is simply not do-able because there would be no gates or security. We definitely don’t want to be responsible for starting another cluster of infection.”

The Committee agreed to hold the live event celebration on September 12 next year. 

“We have chosen this date because it falls within the school term and not during the holidays. We felt it was important that local schools were involved,” Mr O’Leary said. “It is such a historic time for our community.”

In the meantime the committe is organising smaller scale events to mark the historic milestone in an appropriate manner. 

The Committee will also be developing a series of articles about the history of Yandina to run online over the coming months. 

 The focus of the articles will be on the Indigenous history of Yandina, the early settlers, the agricultural history and the historic buildings in the area. The Committee also discussed the much loved annual Street Fair, which will be run in September 2021 in conjunction with the 150 year celebration. Keep up to date with plans on yandinastreetfair.org.au