Echuca’s Aquatic Reserve will not be the stomping ground for next year’s award-winning Riverboats Music Festival.
The reserve, which is currently underwater, has unsurprisingly been deemed an unsuitable space for the 11th edition of the festival.
But as to where the crowd of 6000-strong ticket-holders will be relocated to remains unknown.
Festival director David Frazer said despite the venue change, organisers were committed to ensuring the festival would go ahead.
“It’s heartbreaking to think that Echuca-Moama has just got back on their feet after all the COVID-19 restrictions and now there is flooding,” Mr Frazer said.
“But we will keep on rolling with the punches and keep pushing forward.
“While we are giving the Aquatic Reserve a break for a year, our dates haven’t changed and hopefully the festival can contribute to Echuca-Moama’s tourism industry — that has suffered greatly over the past few years.”
Along with the change of venue, the lineup announcement has been postponed for a second time, until November 21.
Mr Frazer said that while the lineup had already been confirmed, they wanted to be considerate towards those battling the current flooding crisis.
“There’s no reason for us postponing the lineup other than we want to give the council and the community the time to focus on the current situation,” he said.
“Everybody has a lot on their plate at the moment and we don’t want to add to that.”
Riverboats 2023 will be held February 17 to 19, with the venue to be announced in late 2022.
Visit https://www.riverboatsmusic.com.au/festival for more information.