The 2025 Wagga Wagga Mardi Gras will be scaled back after the committee was unable to secure new major sponsors. Photo: Chris Roe.
A scaled-back Mardi Gras Festival will go ahead in Wagga in 2025 after the loss of major sponsors put the popular pride event’s future in doubt.
The committee put out an SOS in November after Charles Sturt University and Coles chose not to renew their sponsorships and, despite widespread grassroots support, no-one had stepped in to fill the funding gap.
Wagga Mardi Gras committee’s Cristy Houghton said they had done the maths and would deliver all the best bits of the festival with the money they had.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t had anyone come to the table to pick up any of the major sponsorships that we offer, so we had a committee meeting on Tuesday night [10 December] and really looked at our budget and weighed up all of our ideas,” she said.
“In the first year, Holly (Conroy) and I put on the Mardi Gras for something like $20,000, so we think if we can cut it back and really focus on what the community wants from the festival, we can do it at a reduced budget.”
The 2025 Wagga Mardi Gras after-party will finish at 8 pm as organisers cut costs to keep the festival alive. Photo: Supplied.
April’s event will be the fifth time Wagga has hosted the family-friendly festival celebrating the region’s ‘Rainbow Community’ since it launched in 2019.
Since the historic first parade down Baylis Street, the Wagga Mardi Gras Festival has grown to include several days of events with thousands of locals and visitors joining “the biggest party Wagga has ever seen”.
“The parade is obviously the highlight as well as the after-party so we looked at how we could ensure that those things happened within our budget,” Cristy said.
“So what we’ve done is to reduce the timeframe of the after-party at Victory Memorial Gardens and instead of finishing at 10 o’clock, we’re going to wrap that up at eight o’clock, which saves us on entertainment costs, and we’re going to change it to a BYO event, so if people want to drink alcohol, they can bring their own.
“This allows us to focus on having the drag queens, which everyone loves, and the Welcome to Country and we’ll have a DJ there playing some bangers.”
The search for sponsors will continue but by making cuts to equipment hire, logistics expenses and marketing, Cristy said they will be able to ensure the free community event continues.
“It was made clear to us that the event is such an important part of the community; we know Wagga City Council supports us with their grants, and it’s a big thing for the events calendar as well,” she said.
“We really didn’t want to let anyone down and I think realistically, we’re really excited to forge ahead with 2025.
“We’ve opened up registrations for the parade entry; it’s free to register your business or your community group for the 2025 parade, so it’s time to start planning and getting that new costume ready, because, once again, it’s going to be the biggest party Wagga’s ever seen!”
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