HomeBrewed Festival, due to be held 21-23rd of January at Adelaide Showground, has been cancelled due to the reintroduction of COVID restrictions, resulting in a negative economic impact of almost $5 million.
The highly-anticipated food, drink and musical 3-day festival have been cancelled due to growing concerns about the transmissibility of the Omicron COVID-19 variant and the restrictions put in place by SA Health to reduce the spread of infection.
HomeBrewed organisers, who also deliver Adelaide’s annual Beer and BBQ Festival which was cancelled in 2021, have been working tirelessly and were excited to present a COVID-safe festival, however, understand the need to reduce the spread of the disease within the community.
Event Director Gareth Lewis said that with yet another change in COVID policies backtracking on earlier promises on density and outdoor gathering limitations, presenting the event in just two weeks was simply unrealistic.
“Our event was quashed when heavy restrictions for the South Australian events indefinitely (at least until January 27th) were reintroduced on December 26th, which includes a ban on “vertical consumption” and dancing (amongst other things) – even at fully-vaccinated events,” said Lewis.
“We simply can’t run HomeBrewed in a seated format, and a postponement into a time where we would be competing with the beasts that are Adelaide Festival, Adelaide Fringe and WOMADelaide is simply not viable.
“We’re so proud of the team and the event line-up for what would have been a great celebration of South Australian food, beverages and artists after a shocker of a year in 2021, and we’re even more disappointed that punters will miss out on yet another event in SA.
“Whilst we welcome the government assistance that is available to our business to cover sunk costs that the festival has incurred to date (up to $100,000), by imposing the harshest restrictions on trade since June 2020 and by far the most restrictive in the country currently, the forced cancellation of just HomeBrewed Festival is much further reaching.
“Our industry desperately wants to get back to work in a safe format but the constantly changing goalposts and inconsistency of any real financial support coupled with total lack of empathy or respect have to lead to the destruction of businesses and livelihoods.”
“We call on the government to engage with the events and hospitality industries, end the state of emergency, develop a proper events insurance scheme as other states have, give us a clear roadmap and stick to it so we can plan for the future.”
The open-air, sun-drenched party was intended not only to celebrate the best in brewers, beers, and BBQ but to champion all the best things ‘South Aussie’.
Set to be one of the biggest South Australian celebrations for not only your ears but your mouth too, brewers, distillers, winemakers, chefs, artisans and a diverse line-up of world-class South Australian artists were prepping to hit the stage across 4 sessions and 3 days.
All HomeBrewed ticket-holders will be refunded in full:
Ticket Holders who hold a transferred ticket from Beer & BBQ Festival 2021 will automatically be transferred back for Beer and BBQ Festival 2022, on July 15-17.
For more information beerbbqfest.com.au
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