Lockhart’s biggest tourism attraction is at risk of folding after this year’s event.
The Spirit of the Land Festival will celebrate its 10th year of operation but a lack of volunteers has put the continuation of the event in jeopardy.
The committee has desperately been trying to get more people involved since the annual meeting at the start of the year.
“There wasn’t much interest,” acting president Mandy Strong said.
Mrs Strong was vice president but had to take on the role of president for the year with no one else stepping up.
The committee called a meeting on Tuesday July 5 to try and get more people involved before the festival in October.
“We want people to come on now to see how it runs because as soon as this year’s festival is over we start looking for sponsors for next year,” Mrs Strong said.
The event brings more than 6000 people to Lockhart over the weekend.
“It puts Lockhart on the map and a lot of the people come back throughout the year,” Mrs Strong said.
“The sculptures we have put in town have made it a destination.”
The committee is made up of eight sub-committees, each with a different job and with one person in charge.
“We have one lady who looks after the volunteer roster, she doesn’t come to all the meetings and reports to the president,” Mrs Strong said.
“We aren’t looking for a huge time commitment - people don’t need to come to every meeting.”
The festival is run smoothly with plenty of volunteers who aren’t on the committee stepping up on the weekend of the festival to help out and make sure it goes ahead.
“We want to get a good succession plan in place for the committee,” Mrs Strong said.
This year’s Spirit of the Land Festival is on October 8 and 9. Registration for sculptures and art open in September.
Go to spiritofthelandlockhart.com.au for more information.
The meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Tuesday July 5 at the Lockhart Ex-Servicemen’s Club.
