Beloved WA Festival Loses Its Home

Fairbridge Festival 2023 has been cancelled, FolkWorld has decided. 

The family-friendly festival has been held at Fairbridge Village, Pinjarra, since 1993.

Last month, FolkWorld announced that Fairbridge Village may no longer be a suitable venue for the festival, which was supposed to occur from 14-16 April 2023.

Drew Dymond, President of FolkWorld Inc., revealed that the board decided to cancel the festival after Fairbridge Western Australia Inc. (Fairbridge WA) – the personnel who manage Fairbridge Village raised concerns about the event's sustainability.

"Despite discussing potential solutions with Fairbridge WA Inc., the risks to proceeding with the festival, with things being what they are this close to festival time, are unfortunately too great," Dymond said. 

"Although Fairbridge WA would still permit us to hire the venue for 2023, changing the festival plans to address the issues raised at this late stage would risk the integrity of the festival and the capability of FolkWorld to deliver the experience our loyal members and supporters have come to love and deserve after 30 years. We need to focus our efforts on securing a suitable venue for ongoing festivals."

Dymond shared that Fairbridge WA is focused on core business areas instead of hiring the venue for large events like festivals, which raised significant uncertainty for Fairbridge Festival organisers.

Fairbridge Festival faced restrictions like a newly reduced capacity of 50% and no longer being able to utilise some venues on site. Furthermore, camping and parking areas wouldn't be available in 2023 due to biosecurity measures installed on the surrounding farmland.

"We will be forever grateful to Fairbridge WA Inc. for letting us host this amazing event year upon year at this historic site," Dymond shared. "While our intentions were to put on a festival in 2023, the cancellation does present an exciting opportunity for FolkWorld to refresh, further develop other events such as the Quest Youth Songwriting Competition, and of course, to find a new home and partners for our flagship event."

Dymond has a firm resolve, though: Fairbridge Festival is looking for a new home. "Encouragingly, we have already received some warm and interesting invitations to consider as festival venues, and we would be more than happy to hear from shires and venues who are interested in collaborating to host this unique Western Australian event." 

Find more information about Fairbridge Festival here.