Ballarat's popular SpringFest market Sunday has been cancelled due to record rainfall saturating its new site.
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![The Rotary Club of Ballarat's SpringFest market Sunday, last held in 2019, has been cancelled in 2022. Picture by Kate Healy The Rotary Club of Ballarat's SpringFest market Sunday, last held in 2019, has been cancelled in 2022. Picture by Kate Healy](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/HGEQmb32Jrb7fFYffAPJvy/e69afb39-c266-49f9-8514-5c6414e1b26b.JPG/r0_252_4928_3023_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The market, a major fundraiser of the Rotary Club of Ballarat, has not been held for three years because of the coronavirus pandemic.
It was to be held in three weeks on November 27.
SpringFest organisers changed this year's route to make it more accessible along a new 2.5 kilometre loop around the North Gardens and encompassing the Ballarat Tramway Museum.
In a statement, the management committee said the proposed new site layout was saturated due to October's record rainfall and no longer viable for the 530 stalls and 300 vehicles on display.
Relocating the market to the Lake Wendouree foreshore was not an option following a heritage protection order made in March in the long-running fight over the lake lighting, prohibiting stalls and vehicles on the grass.
In the past, stalls and vehicles have been set up around the lake making a 6.5 kilometre loop.
"The management committee have scenario planned multiple different layouts and investigated alternative locations, however none were viable. Keeping in mind the same SpringFest experience we all know and love above the event," the statement says.
"Naturally, we are extremely disappointed to announce the cancellation of the 2022 SpringFest Ballarat market, however the enthusiasm and commitment of the committee has not wavered as we begin planning for 2023."
![Springfest Co-director Robert Glass and ambassador Julia Zass at 2022 launch the event in September 2022. Picture by Adam Trafford. Springfest Co-director Robert Glass and ambassador Julia Zass at 2022 launch the event in September 2022. Picture by Adam Trafford.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/HGEQmb32Jrb7fFYffAPJvy/d1060139-790e-4abc-9834-6d74c3daddb0.jpg/r0_238_4662_2859_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Launching SpringFest in September, co-director Robert Glass said it was hoped the 2022 event would attract 35,000 people to Lake Wendouree as it did in 2019.
December's SpringFest market at Ballarat Carols by Candlelight and online raffle is still proceeding.
Ballarat service clubs have taken a double blow this week, with news of the cancellation of the annual Swap Meet which usually draws 11,000 to 12,000 visitors a year.
Ballarat Rotary clubs have run the Australia's biggest swap meet for the last 11 years with organisers unable to find a suitable and dry location for the 2023 event.
Their traditional site at the Ballarat airport was unavailable due to the upgrade of the runway and expansion of BWEZ and the site they had flagged for the February event was flooded.
Chair Lindsay Florence said the Ballarat event needed at least 45 hectares plus running water, drainage and six-metre-wide roads - and they would not have time to create this, even if the proposed 2023 site dried out now.
READ MORE: Cancellation of the Ballarat Swap Meet
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