Madison Eastmond, Murray Pioneer

Numerous new volunteer faces are needed at tonight’s Riverland Rose and Garden Festival emergency meeting, in order to save the event from complete collapse.

While the Riverland Rose and Garden Festival has been cancelled for 2026, organisers are encouraging locals to attend an emergency meeting – held at the Berri Hotel, from 7pm – in the hopes of salvaging an event for future years.

Since the event’s cancellation was announced in the January 21 edition of The Murray Pioneer, former festival chair Michelle Dominic said she had “received a lot of feedback from the community, with many sharing their support, but also disappointment”.

“The facts still remain, if we don’t get more members on the committee, particularly someone stepping into the role of chair, we won’t be able to go ahead,” she said.

“At the moment we have seven to eight volunteers, and ideally, we would like between 12 and 14 – it’s not a huge jump, so we’re hoping we will be successful in finding enough people wanting to dedicate their time.

“We also need more open gardens. We have so many people who are deeply passionate about entering their gardens year, after year – however, a lot are getting older and can’t keep going.

“We really need people attending the meeting to come with ideas of the way they can contribute or help the festival, whether that be through sponsorship, or volunteering their time.”

While Ms Dominic said she “could not possibly see a way for the festival to run this year without a strong committee”, she remained hopeful the event could be reimagined to address current challenges going forward.

“We have had a lot of feedback and ideas already about making the festival biennial, or reducing its scale back to a focus on just open gardens for future years – which would mean losing the market, gala dinner, and moving the Institute flower display somewhere we wouldn’t be charged,” she said.

“There are a lot of changes to consider, but all will be on the table at the meeting to discuss.

“It would be great to see something go ahead, but everything is up in the air at the moment, and really (dependant) on community feedback at (tonight’s) meeting.

“I think even if we don’t get the response we are after, there is a few of us on the committee passionate enough to try and host a Riverland gardens week – where a small group of locals can showcase their gardens.

“However, I think we would all love to see the festival remain and we really hope the community come out and show its support.”

For further information, or to join or assist the Riverland Rose and Garden Festival committee, email (info@riverlandrosesandgardens.com.au).

This article appeared in Murray Pioneer, 4 February 2026.
Related stories: The Riverland in full bloom, Coming up roses in the Riverland