The Blue Mountains Music Festival held in Katoomba, due to start tonight, has been cancelled due to concerns about the coronavirus.
The festival posted on its Facebook page on Friday morning: "In the wake of the most recent COVID-19 updates we have made the decision to cancel this year's Blue Mountains Music Festival. As disappointing as this is, the health of our patrons, artists, staff, volunteers and community is most important. Thank-you to everyone for your continued support of the Blue Mountains Music Festival."
The news came hours after Katoomba High School announced it was closing today following a confirmed coronavirus case. Many of the music festival's staff and volunteers are also members of the Katoomba High School community.
The music festival is held in a precinct near Katoomba Public School, including Katoomba RSL Club and The Clarendon Guesthouse. Held over three days, it was marking its 25th anniversary this year. Headline artists included Kasey Chambers and John Butler.
The festival later posted that organisers "will be getting in touch with all ticket holders to organise refunds and transfers. This may take 5-10 business days to process".
"Thank-you to everyone for your continued support of the Blue Mountains Music Festival and we look forward to seeing you all in 2021. Again, we are sorry for the late cancellation of the event this weekend, but the health and well-being of our festival community must remain our number 1 priority."
Blue Mountains mayor Mark Greenhill commended festival organisers for their actions.
"This is disappointing news for the artists and fans but I want to thank the organisers for acting with caution and placing community safety first.," he said. "While these events are frightening, information is our best defence. Pay close attention to the NSW Health advisory. Calm reference to the updates is essential at times like this."
Reaction on the festival's Facebook page was disappointed but supportive.
Catriona Paterson posted: "So so sad. A huge thank you to everyone who makes this wonderful Festival happen each year. We'll all pull together to do whatever it takes to make next year's Festival a celebration to remember."
Michael Rawle wrote: "A disappointing but quite sensible decision given the present situation. Thanks for your tremendous efforts so far, and I trust the fallout of this decision doesn't cause too much grief. We'll be back next year so let's all hang in there...".
"Difficult decision to make but thank you for adopting the sensible approach to the health of all concerned," posted Suzanne Mekhitarian.
Despite the cancellation, Blue Mountains Tourism (BMT) businesses are operating as usual - albeit with extra precautions.
BMT president and Blue Mountains Explorer Bus owner Jason Cronshaw said the tourism organisation was closely monitoring the situation. "We will of course take any new advice from NSW Heath but for now it is business as usual and we welcome visitors who want to get away from crowds, breath our fresh mountain air and enjoy the space of our grand backyard," he said.
Tourism business owners such as hoteliers, restaurateurs, attraction operators and retailers have taken precautions like extra cleaning and providing guests with hand sanitiser as required.
