COVID-19: Dunsborough Arts Festival postponed amid Omicron concerns

The highly anticipated and much loved Dunsborough Arts Festival and Community Concert has been the latest in a string of event postponements as WA grapples with COVID-19 outbreaks. The Dunsborough and Districts Progress Association made the difficult decision this week as a result of the uncertainties around hosting a large public events amid recent positive COVID cases in the South West. Event organiser and DDPA president Jacquie Happ and major sponsor Dianne Laurance made this decision together earlier this week to postpone the March opening night. Ms Laurance said while it was a tough decision, the communities wellbeing was at the forefront of her mind. “I had a couple of sleepless nights because it had to be cancelled and then I rang Jackie, who was the chairman of the association, and I just said to her, I’m sorry, I can’t do it,” she said. “I just feel that this super spreader, Omicron, is being thrown around. . . and I think it’s going to be everywhere. Just look at what’s happening overseas and over East, it’s just gone berserk.” Despite the current uncertainty, Ms Laurance said the event would eventually go ahead “bigger and better than ever”. “I just want to postpone because if we get to a stage where Omicron is being controlled and things are fine, I’ll throw a party for the town,” she said. “We’re not cancelled, just postponed — we’ll be back.” Despite COVID the event has been able to go ahead the past two years, serving as a catalyst for Ms Laurance to first organise the concert and fireworks in 2019. “They needed to forget about covid, forget about their daily hassles, and it was easy to be transported especially with the beautiful fireworks,” she said. “It’s such a great community event, it brings all the communities and families together, and if you haven’t been to one of these, it’s true happiness and joy that brings the community together. “It makes my heart sing.”