ANOTHER iconic Wyndham event could leave the municipality forever due to a lack of suitable venues.
Werribee’s Annual Craft Festival, which has been held in Werribee for 34 years, has been forced to find a new venue this year thanks to redevelopment works at the Wyndham Leisure and Events Centre.
Chairperson of the festival, Betty Parker, said the event brought in around 100 stall holders and 2000 craft enthusiasts every year.
Around $2000 in profits is also given to Werribee Community and Education Centre after the event is held.
Ms Parker said the event could leave Wyndham forever.
“This venue (the leisure and events centre) will not be available until October 2014. That’s a long time not to have a big event centre in Wyndham,” Ms Parker said.
“If we have to move to an area like Hobsons Bay and we are happy with what they can offer us then it is a possibility that we won’t come back to Wyndham.
“We really want to keep it in Werribee so we don’t lose the history of it.
“We’ve already had a lot of people saying that they’ll miss the event.”
Festival Secretary Nicole Cachia said a lot of people would be disappointed if the event was moved or cancelled.
“I really think the council haven’t thought about this properly because they haven’t made something else available,” Ms Cachia said.
“I’m mostly disappointed because they never gave us any indication of what was going on until it was too late.”
Last month Star revealed that Fashion Awards Australia would be leaving Wyndham during the redevelopments along with DanceSport Australia.
