Manjimup Cherry Harmony Festival: lack of volunteers forces cancellation of major SW event

A major South West festival responsible for putting timber town Manjimup on the tourism map will not proceed this year due to a volunteer shortage. Faced with the pressure of running a free festival of its size — attended by more than 8000 people each year — with significantly reduced committee numbers, the Manjimup Cherry Harmony Festival committee was forced to cancel the 2023 event in December to ensure the continued success of the festival into the future. The committee is facing a major overhaul, with more than 50 per cent of positions unfilled or in the process of being filled with new members. The changes also include a new committee chair, Baily Pengilly, after the post was vacated by one of the festival founders, Pam Bodsworth, who remains on the committee as an associate. Mr Pengilly said the committee had struggled to find people willing to get on board, despite reaching out to the community via social media, word-of-mouth and through several advertisements in the Manjimup-Bridgetown Times. “It’s really hard, we have lost quite a few significant roles,” he said. “We are definitely going to need to pull quite a few people out of the woodwork.” The festival was initially established in 2001 to generate traffic into the town and support the local economy, part of an attempt to alleviate the damaging effects of the State Government’s then decision to end logging of old growth forests in the region. Mr Pengilly said he was hopeful the committee would be able to rebuild and he intended to use the year break to re-establish the purpose of the festival and streamline processes. “The not going ahead of the festival this year is also beneficial in a way,” he said. “This is really good for growth because we have 12 months to look through our economic and strategic plan ... rework a few things and bring in a new committee.” Rumours have circulated suggesting financial pressures were the reason for the event cancellation however, MCHF treasurer Franzine Karamfiles said this was absolutely not the case. “Budget wise, we can run a festival on a tight budget,” she said. “I’m saying it’s not about the money, it’s about people — it’s about manpower, it’s about volunteers, it’s about support.” Shire of Manjimup president Paul Omodei — who has been patron of the event since its inception more than 20 years ago — said he was shocked and disappointed the event was not going ahead this year. “It is extremely disappointing that the committee has been forced to this unquestionably hard decision,” he said. “The diligence and hard work of this committee over the past 21 years has been outstanding. “These are a small group of volunteers that have put in an enormous amount of time and effort to bring a hugely successful event to the region year after year”.