2022 Community Event to Replace New Year's Eve
Port Pirie Regional Council has made the difficult decision not to proceed with the Port Pirie New Year’s Eve celebrations – but is proposing a community celebration in 2022 instead.
While our region has been fortunate to remain relatively untouched from the health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Council and the wider community are still bound by State Government restrictions. While necessary, these restrictions create challenges in hosting an event of this size.
Council considered the following factors in making the decision:
- This event would require a COVID Management Plan and given the current processing time, this would not be returned until approximately one week prior to the event.
- Given this would be the Christmas period and as this is such a large event, it would be difficult to implement changes to the event management at such short notice.
- Council would be required to commit to fireworks costs in October and would incur costs for a cancelled event. This is considered an unwise use of ratepayer money.
- A significant number of COVID marshals would be required to monitor and manage crowd behaviour, particularly social distancing.
- The event environment (in the dark of night and with people consuming alcohol) creating difficulties for these COVID marshals.
Port Pirie Regional Council understands this decision is disappointing for the community and is keen to provide an alternative event for our residents to enjoy.
Council will use the funds to support a similar sized community event in the first six months of 2022. Given the increasing COVID-19 vaccination numbers and the expected easing of Federal and State Government restrictions at the end of the year, Council believes the first half of 2022 is the right time for the community to come together and celebrate.