By Margaret Maccoll
Service clubs, schools, kindergartens and villages have been forced by Covid-19 to put a hold on fetes and festivals, reducing funds that would normally be raised for community projects and bring visitors to the region.
King of the Mountain Festival, Spring Mountain Festival, Good Shepherd Lutheran College fair and Peregian Beach Community Kindergarten’s Under 8s day are among the events usually staged this month.
King of the Mountain spokeswoman Heather Manders said the festival would have celebrated its 42nd event this year.
Ms Manders said the Cooroy-Pomona Lions Club event usually raised almost $15,000 for various charities and brought many hundreds to Pomona.
“People come and train on the mountain and stop and have a coffee or lunch,” she said. “It impacts everyone.”
But it’s not all bad news. Ms Manders said the forced shutdown had given volunteer organisers a rest and a chance to re-evaluate the event.
The club has been able to run other fundraising activities including a book fest and sausage sizzles at Pomona market.
Cooroy Rotary Club has had to cancel its major fundraiser, the Spring Mountain Festival, and have been unable to run its regular sausage sizzles.
Club president Carol Johnston said the club’s older group of volunteers didn’t want to be out in public running the risk of infection and they had other projects they could work on.
Good Shepherd Lutheran College fair coordinator Karen Von Homeyer said the school’s annual fair had been running for about 25 years and raised about $50,000-$60,000 a yearfor school resources.
“We put the safety and wellbeing of our students and the greater community first,” she said.
The college has events planned toward the end of the year they hope will be able to go ahead.
