Chinchilla Melon Festival makes successful return | Photos and Video

After four-years plagued by a pandemic, drought, and more recently, fires and community tragedy, Western Downs locals and producers came together for the successful return of the Chinchilla Melon Festival, prompting the state government to commit $100,000 to fund the next event.

Despite rumours circulating that it may have been the festival's grand finale, the Melon Festival committee has confirmed that there are definitely plans to host the biannual event again, particularly given the backing of the Palaszczuk government, which was announced on Saturday, February 18, by the Premier herself while in Chinchilla.

The festival, which saw more than 15,000 people travel to the region across the weekend, has been known to inject a huge amount of money into local businesses and communities, but has faced several financial challenges in recent years.

Festival committee member and local grower Darryl O'Leary said the government funds were a major encouragement for those putting on the event, which has become increasingly more difficult to do due to the rise in costs.

RELATED READING

"We had good numbers, a good crowd, a good atmosphere, and plenty of vibe about," Mr O'Leary said.

"We had a couple of stumbling blocks because costs have gone up unbelievably this time, so it was good to see it all go well.

"Overall we're very happy, there were a lot of good comments about what we've done, and the premier was here and told us that there was $100,000 on offer for the next festival, so that will be a nice change.

"It's a free day and we don't charge anybody entry into the arena or the family concert, so it's all virtually run by sponsors money, which may have to change down the track, because it's going to be difficult to keep pulling that sort of money every two years."

Mr O'Leary said the event would not have been possible without the help of the huge team of volunteers who sweltered in the heat out in the arena, on the barbecues, or behind the bars during the weekend, as well as the months of hard work from growers in preparation for the festival.

Western Downs regional mayor Paul McVeigh agreed that the help from the state government would be hugely welcomed, and that it had also initiated a wider review into funding for all community events across regional Queensland.

"We all know costs have gone up so much and it's difficult for volunteers to rely on sponsorships when putting on an event of that caliber, which is up there with the best and is internationally known," Mr McVeigh said.

"When the premier announced that, it seemed to take a tonne of weight from the shoulders of the committee members, it was a great thing to see.

"The other comment that the premier made was that, because of costs rising, it's probably time to do a review of grants for all festivals within rural Queensland.

"I think it's something that needs to be reviewed, because we know what inflation is doing, but the heart and soul of all the festivals across the state is all driven by volunteers, so obviously that hard work should come with some reward for showing off our great state of Queensland."

As well as the Melon Festival, Premier Palaszczuk also visited firefighters in Miles to discuss the current bushfire situation around the area.

"Our local community worked so hard to produce what was just a phenomenal event, so much so that we did have the Premier out there after all the dramas we've had in our region over the last few months," Mr McVeigh said

"She was very impressed with the character of the Western Downs, the goodness of our people and their capacity to be so generous."

While a handful of people took to social media with criticism regarding the wasteful nature of the activities, Mr O'Leary defended the event, saying growers were committed to producing fruit especially for the festival, which would otherwise not make it onto supermarket shelves.

"There's a lot of conjecture going on about how we waste all the melon, but the melons that we use for the skiing and things would have been left in the ground and never picked," he said.

"It's probably 16 tonne of melon worth around $6000 and it injects 3.5 million into the local economy, so it's pretty cheap and well worth it in the scheme of things."

Mr O'Leary said the committee would now look towards making improvements for an even better event in two years time.

Sign up here to Good Fruit and Vegetables weekly newsletter for all the latest horticulture news each Thursday...