Will there be an Airlie Beach Music Festival this year?
Wed 17 Jun 2020
Podcast Audio
John Nayler poses the question to Gavin Butlin, "Will there be an Airlie Beach Music Festival this year?"
In its 8th year, Gavin explains that it will not operate as in past years and that he is just waiting for confirmation from the appropriate bodies to advise how it will operate in 2020. There is a heavy cloud of uncertainty hanging over the Festival due to the ever-changing travel restrictions of the CO-VID 19 pandemic. Intrastate travel is now allowed throughout Queensland however, Annastacia Palaszczuk has not given a date for the opening of the Queensland borders which will severely impact the numbers that traditionally attend the Festival.
There has been a great team of people located in the Whitsundays that have worked hard to keep this event going. It has become a tradition and attended by people from all over Australia, financially injecting around 2.2 million dollars into Airlie Beach plus the continued domino effect of tourists staying longer to undertake activities and trips out to the Islands and the Great Barrier Reef.
In regards to the demographic of the guests that arrive for the festival, around a quarter come from out of Queensland, predominantly NSW and VIC, so without a known date of the opening of the Queensland border, the 2020 Airlie Beach Music Festival cannot have a schedule of events.
In previous years the main stage was at the Sailing Club with around 16 other venues scattered throughout the town. These venues operated throughout the day with the headline acts performing on the main stage at night. The whole town of Airlie Beach gets involved and musicians singing Blues, Jazz, Soul, Country etc, rotate around the various venues. This format allows for guests to wander throughout the day listening to diverse music genres, eating, drinking and having an all round fantastic experience.
Gavin says, "This year we just don't know how the Festival will look?" "We certainly will be hosting something!" " We work closely with Margie and the crew from the Great Barrier Reef Festival, so jointly we will come up with a plan."
Come and visit the town of Airlie Beach which is the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef and support the Airlie Beach Music Festival, which will be held between Friday 6 November to Sunday 8 November. Alternatively, come anytime for a holiday of a lifetime!
