Editorial: Settle, petal

OPINION: If it had been a poor turnout, or even a dutiful but half-hearted one, at Alexandra's community hall on Wednesday night, then the town's famous blossom festival would have been ready to press into the pages of history, writes The Southland Times in an editorial.

It wasn't. The overfilling hall gave cause for optimism – albeit measured optimism – that the collective will to save the festival remains.

It won't be easy. In recent years the festival has struggled badly and there's now an $81,290 shortfall to attend to.

Not for the first time, the rallying call has been for a simplified back-to-basics approach to engage local support while still attracting and rewarding visitors.

It is not hard to lose money on festivals such as this, particularly as organisers can be assailed on several fronts. The festival makes heavy calls on the spirit of volunteerism. So do a legion of other causes, many of which are shimmeringly worthwhile, at a time when we have become a society that, rightly or wrongly, behaves as if it has less free time on its hands.

On the other hand, the temptation to over-reach by looking for king-hit successes is considerable. Clearly this has afflicted the festival at times, notably with the gambles of importing fairly big-name bands that have failed, and badly, to attract commensurate crowds.

Little rebellions, too, have taken their toll, such as the creation last year of a breakaway market set up in opposition to the festival stallholders, in protest at the cost of attending. Affordability has clearly become an issue.

On top of which is the problem of bad visitor behaviour. This is an exasperation for those who encounter it, typically on the outskirts of the event rather than anywhere near the heart of it, and also for those like Central Otago Mayor Malcolm Macpherson, who regret that the town must battle an outdated perception that the festival is a riot. Those 80 arrests last year were more a case of police nipping trouble in the bud, he maintains.

It has been argued in our Your View column that the festival is a relic, best left to depart with dignity; that the original motivators of generating funds for local amenities have been replaced by turning attentions of funding agencies, leaving the festival with a vacuum filled by a new generation of organisers who are in it for financial gain.

That is a fairly dismal view. Less a result of taking off rose-coloured glasses than of putting on particularly dark ones.

Small point: the festival is, for so many people, a mightily good time. If you cannot head up Central and have a whale of a time each year, then you're probably not trying.

So what happens now? Organisational recalibration continues and the hat is being passed around (it happened literally at the hall on Wednesday). Locals and businesses will dig into their pockets to help cover the shortfall as best they can, and then there will be something of a trudge to the Vincent Community Board to ask it to pick up any remaining debt.

Separate from this, there is seeding for a festival this year, from a rainy day fund set up by a previous festival committee. Probably wisely, that committee did not allow for that nest egg to be made available to cover past debts.

Things are going to have to start going right for the festival, financially, but that can be achieved by recognising that it's not inherently outdated; just in need of careful tuning up.

Enough locals do still seem to be willing to keep it going. That is welcome news.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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