A Festival Called PANAMA To Take A Year Off In 2026
Festival organisers have also launched a plan to help protect the Panama forest from logging.
A Festival Called PANAMA (Source: Supplied)
Beloved Tasmanian event A Festival Called PANAMA will take a break in 2026, with organisers calling for protection for the Panama forest.
This year’s festival, which sold out in December and took place earlier in the Lone Star Valley this month (7-9 March), was headlined by Magdalena Bay, Hermanos Gutierrez, and Bonny Light Horseman and featured Aussie acts like Miss Kaninna, Grace Cummings, The Belair Lip Bombs, Dust, Queenie, Miles Nautu, and many more. Festival organisers described this year’s event as “majestic and beautiful.”
However, beyond the music, something far less beautiful is happening.
“On our website we have created a page where you can read about why The Panama, along with 39,000 hectares of other native forests in Lutruwita, is under threat,” festival organisers stated in a press release.
“We have also listed the names of some key decision makers we need our community to write to. It’s our belief that with enough of us using our voices we can make this plan too much of a political liability for the government to proceed.”
As noted in a press release and on the festival’s website, the event’s namesake is situated directly against the Panama forest. Recently, the Tasmanian state government and Forestry Tasmania revealed plans to open the forest for logging.
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Not only is the Panama forest at risk of being logged, but festival organisers also noted the following native forests: Ben Lomond, Mount Barrow, Mount Arthur, Pyengana, and Mt Victoria.
While all the aforementioned forests and the Panama Forest were assigned protection under the Tasmanian Forest agreements in 2012, the Liberal government overturned that decision in 2014, reclassifying the sites as Future Potential Production Forests. You can read more about the issue here.
With the event’s passion for protecting its home, A Festival Called PANAMA will take a year off in 2026.
The festival organisers confirmed, “PANAMA FESTIVAL will be taking a break in 2026. It’s the right time for us, and it will be nice for the land and the valley to have some time to rest.
“We’ll be working hard on Protecting the Panama Forest and we may run some PANAMA Presents events. We’ll keep you in the loop with what we’re up to.”
They added, “This community is a special one and we look forward to working out what makes sense for us in the coming years. We appreciate your support. It has been the honour of our lives to run this event. Thank you.”
Throughout the press release, the festival organisers praised this year’s “deep, wild, and bold” program and thanked punters for leaving little litter on the festival grounds.
Since its beginnings in 2014, A Festival Called PANAMA has regularly sold out its events, retaining its intimacy while delivering world-class line-ups. The event was founded by Holy Holy’s Tim Carroll and Dan Rooke.
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