Wagga musician and founder of Stone the Crows festival Grant Luhrs. Photo: Chris Roe.
Wagga’s Stone the Crows Festival, a fixture on grey nomad calendars, will not go ahead in 2023 after failing to secure a venue.
Event organiser Grant Luhrs said he’s devastated to cancel in the wake of a successful 10th birthday event at Easter.
“We’ve run out of time basically, so we’ve had to pull the pin on it,” he said.
“Our 10-year contract ran out with the Australian Clay Target Association (ACTA) and we’ve been trying to renegotiate with them.”
The unique festival began in Wagga a decade ago catering to over 50s in caravans and campers.
“It was specifically for grey nomads,” said Grant.
“The point of difference for us was that we had it in the same place each year and at the same time.
“So as they’re heading off for the summer to escape the winter cold and heading north, we channel them through the Riverina.”
The “chief crows”, organisers Jim Haynes, Chrissy Eustace and Grant Luhrs. Photo: Supplied.
After the success of the first event at Kurrajong Camp in 2013, organisers sought a bigger venue and settled on the ACTA facilities on Copland Street.
“We ended up having about 1200 grey nomads stay there over a seven or eight-day period over Easter and apart from the interruptions from COVID in 2020 and 2021, it’s been going ever since,” he explained.
“Our research showed us that people came in on average a week or two weeks before the event and then hovered around the Riverina and they’re all spending money.”
Wagga mayor Dallas Tout said Council had been a long-time supporter of the event and he was disappointed to hear that it would not continue.
“We’ve always supported them and the loss of any event to the city is a sad thing,” he said.
“It’s established itself as a unique, iconic event so it was really sad to see that announcement.”
Stone the Crows campers at sunset. Photo: Supplied.
Grant says the ACTA facilities are the only suitable venue in the city and they needed to secure an agreement with enough time for punters to book tickets and plan their travel.
“We had basically a whole of site deal where we paid X amount of dollars and got to use all of the facilities, including the convention centre and the campsites for the period of the festival,” he said.
“So we asked them straight after the last festival, ‘Tell us what you want?’
“We’ve basically been waiting by the phone and nothing’s happened.”
Region reached out to ACTA and were told, “Don’t waste your time, no one will speak to you about this”.
With no other options, Grant says 2023 is “impossible” and organisers will consider their options for the long-term future of the event.
“We did think about the Henty Field Day site which I think is the only one with the infrastructure for a big event,” he said.
“It would be a loss for Wagga but still good for the Riverina.
“It’s just a sad situation.”
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