One of the biggest food festivals in the south west of WA, credited for putting timber town Manjimup on the tourism map, has been cancelled for the first time in two decades.
The Manjimup Cherry Harmony Festival has been held every year since 2002 as a way of showcasing the community's farming produce to the state.
A highlight of the annual community event is the cherry pip-spitting competition, which during the COVID pandemic had to be re-worked as the pip-flicking competition.
Organisers of the annual event confirmed the 2023 event would be cancelled because there was not enough volunteer support to operate a free festival of its size.
Communities disconnected
Event founder Jon Doust was emotional at the prospect of losing the festival after years of hard work to make it happen year-in, year-out.
He said the festival transformed Manjimup from a timber town into a tourist destination.
"If you'd said to someone 30 years ago, 'I'm going to Manjimup for the weekend,' they would have looked at you aghast," Mr Doust said.
"Now, if you say you're going to Manjimup, faces light up because they know that Manjimup is the heart and soul of the foodbowl in this state."
However, Mr Doust said he was not surprised at the announcement, given the common struggle of getting new volunteers.
"It's a problem all over country towns. It's very hard to get people to volunteer to engage in community events and in particular to run them," he said.
"Sadly it's synonymous with the decline in the sense of community where many of us are disconnected."
Hope for the future
Festival committee chairman Baily Pengilly said it was a hard decision to make, but they would look towards making it possible in 2024.
"Now we're looking to refresh faces, get some new bums on seats," Mr Pengilly said.
"In the current economic state of what's going on people are working a bit harder and don't really find as much time to volunteer."
