The outstanding success of the 2024 Man From Snowy Bush Festival has been a testament to the dedication of board members and volunteers over a challenging period, chairman Cameron Jackson highlighted at the recent annual general meeting.

“The past two years once again were not without their challenges and of course change can often be the hardest thing to manage,” he said.

“Key takeouts from the 2023 event were well actioned by the board, through a series of reviews with event managers and staff alike. A lot of thought went into these actions and how we could deliver on the improvements that were identified as necessary.

“As a result, the 2024 event was a massive success. The comments on the professionalism of the event coming from major sponsors, longterm attendees, ex-board members and people formerly involved in the past.

“There has been a benchmark set going forward.” 

Mr Jackson added that record ticket and camping sales in 2024 reinforced the board’s belief that the cap has been reached given Corryong’s infrastructure.

“There is no denying that this year’s crowd was the biggest on record but with that came our regular issue with toilets and showers coping with these numbers. To cater for the numbers we do with basically a temporary set up annually for a week is no mean feat but it is time to now to correct this and reduce the stress which this board has worked hard to achieve.”

The board recently received planning approval for the construction of two permanent toilet and shower blocks at the recreation reserve. The larger of the two buildings will be constructed on a new site bordering the golf course with close proximity to the camp draft and rodeo arenas for use by all users.

The other will replace the current demountable units near the Scammell shoeing shed.

“This is a total investment of $750,000 and is due for practical completion in February/March 2025 in time for the festival,” Mr Jackson said.

“Once completed, this will take total investment at the recreation reserve by the festival to well over $1.25M which is an incredible result for the community.

“This year we will also embark on a much needed upgrade to the fleet of toilet trailers with conversion of the pump units to flushing cisterns, to correct the issues we have had with blocked toilets due to the nature of the old flushing systems.

“Our financials reflect a well governed and planned organisation and decisions made by this board over the last five years have been significant and is the reason we find ourselves in a positive financial position, whereas many of our peers are struggling to stay afloat.

“During this current board’s tenure we have had to deal with the 2029-20 Black Summer Bushfires, the pandemic, a cancelled 2020 event and we just got the 2021 event off the ground in trying to deal with a belligerent government, oblivious to what this secondary cancellation would have done to this community.

“Basically, the event would have ceased to exist.

“Now we are dealing with cost of living pressures and inflation meaning that disposable income is reduced and yet, we book out every year which is a credit to all involved.”

Mr Jackson also announced that ticket prices for the 2025 event have been increased by 17.5 per cent.

“This will allow for the inevitable increase in costs while still looking to bring in a profit of around 10 per cent which enables capital growth and vertical integration expansion,” he explained.

“We provide a payroll in excess of $400,000 to this local community in addition to the benefit to local businesses and contractors which runs into the hundreds of thousands directly from the festival, let alone the income from attendees and tourism as a result.”

In a 2019 study by the Victorian government in partnership with the Victorian Tourism Industry Council, it was estimated that the festival brings in excess of $7.2M to the local community annually.

“The investment of $150,000 in the initial purchase of the toilet and shower trailers has also proven to be a master stroke with annual hire of these facilities exceeding $100,000,” Mr Jackson said.

“They are also available to benefit other community events such as the bushfire relief centre and Towong Cup.

“Through the Jewish Foundation we have been able to acquire five state-of-the-art generators which not only limit our hire expenses but have also been loaned out to several businesses around town to run refrigeration and other infrastructure during power outages.

“Through this relationship we recently acquired a larger generator which fully powers the food court during the festival.

In an agreement with the recreation reserve committee, this generator will be permanently installed to back up the reserve’s battery bank, ensuring critical services to the events centre as the place of last resort in Corryong.”

Mr Jackson also acknowledged that the entire event would simply not be possible without dedicated board members, staff and volunteers.

“On behalf of the board I would like to personally thank you all,” he said.

Mr Jackson did not stand for re-election to the board at the annual meeting.

The following were elected to the board – Nicole Martin (acting chairperson/secretary), Anna Beirs (treasurer), Shea Bloom , Jodie Grzeschka, Jayden Pierce, Nicole Faithfull, Sarah Whiteley and Greg Hillier.

Ticket sales for the 2025 festival are once again strong and much of the main golf course camping area is already sold out.

The 2025 festival will be held from April 10-13th.

This article appeared in the Corryong Courier, 12 September 2024.