By MATT NICHOLLS
ARMIDALE Jockey Club secretary Jim Dedes fears crowd numbers will be well down at this year’s Armidale Cup after the half-day public holiday was scrapped by the council.
The half-day holiday for the Armidale Cup has been a decades-old institution, but this year workers in the city will have to use their annual leave to go to the races on Monday, 17 March.
“I would be very surprised if we didn’t see a drop in the crowd,” Mr Dedes said.
“In the past people got a full day’s pay, but knocked off at lunchtime to come to the races.
“All the businesses would close because everyone would be at the races.”
However, Armidale Dumaresq councillors last week voted to replace the half-day holiday with a “local event day”, meaning that employees will now be required to take annual leave to get the time off.
Even council employees will be required to work.
The decision bucks a trend in Australia, where country towns enjoy a half-day holiday for their local horse racing cup when it is staged on a weekday.
Walcha, Grafton, Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie and dozens of other towns around Australia enjoy half-day holidays.
Councillor Jim Maher, who voted against the local event day, preferring the status quo, said he was concerned the decision would have a major impact on the Armidale Cup, which he described as the town’s biggest social event.
“Whether you like horse racing or not, the Armidale Cup is one of the great events on our calendar and we should be supporting it,” he said.
“Having it on a Monday extends the Autumn Festival into a three-day event and it does help drive people to visit the city.”
Concerns were expressed by a number of schools last year when the half-day holiday meant students had to be picked up by parents at lunchtime.
However, Mr Dedes said that was the first time that had happened.
“In years gone by, school hours had remained as normal,” he said.
“I think the teacher’s union might have been involved in getting the half-day off.”
Mr Dedes said he hoped the half-day public holiday would return next year and encouraged all employers to give their staff the opporunity to attend this year’s Armidale Cup.
