ditch the massive music festival <\/a>following relocation issues. <\/p>\nThe event was meant to be held from July 7-9 in the remote Queensland town of Birdsville, more than 1500km east of Brisbane.<\/p>\n
However, after learning that recent rainfall will not dry before July at the Big Red site, the festival team had been \u201cworking tirelessly\u201d to find another location.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, relocating \u201cwas not feasible\u201d and the event had to be canned.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a hard decision to make in the sense of the amount of effort and passion that goes into the festival \u2013 it\u2019s very disappointing and gut-wrenching,\u201d event founder and managing director of the Outback Music Festival Group, Greg Donovan, told news.com.au.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut from a logistics, operational point of view, it was the only decision that we could actually come to.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event attracts about 10,000 revellers and caravanners from across the nation to the town and this year was projected to inject around $25 million into Outback Queensland and the surrounding regional communities \u2013 up 30 per cent from 2024, when the event was last held.<\/p>\n
TEQ CEO Craig Davidson said despite the postponement of the Big Red Bash, Outback Queensland is very much open for business.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis season Outback Queensland will be alive with colour and vitality, and it\u2019s a fantastic time to experience this breathtaking landscape and its unforgettable experiences,\u201d Mr Davidson told news.com.au.<\/p>\n
\u201cVisitors can gaze at the clearest night skies in the country and discover world class fossils along the Dinosaur Trail, along with iconic towns and pubs bursting with country hospitality.<\/p>\n
\u201cOutback Queensland is ready to provide a warm welcome to visitors this season, and we look forward to having the Big Red Bash back again next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Donovan said there were locations around the town that may have worked but the time frame they had available and the issues they were dealing with were \u201creally challenging\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMother Nature is the highest authority; this year she has spoken and we have heard the message,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t express our gratitude enough to everyone who put their faith in us and purchased tickets to this year\u2019s Bash, and we sincerely regret the disappointment the cancellation will cause for so many people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event was already 90 per cent sold-out with Stuart Field, Oztix co-founder & managing director saying it is was an \u201cincredibly tough call for Greg Donovan and the Big Red Bash team\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way Greg and his team have engaged directly with patrons and made this decision in their best interest, is a testament to the integrity and reputation they\u2019ve built over many years,\u201d Mr Field said.<\/p>\n
Ticket holders have the option to transfer their tickets to next year\u2019s festival (July 6-8).<\/p>\n
Otherwise, they can request a refund that will be processed immediately by Oztix (available before June 19) or transfer tickets to the 2026 Broken Hill Mundi Mundi Bash (August 20-22, 2026).<\/p>\n
Given the massive economic benefits the event brings to the local surrounding areas, Mr Donovan also urged revellers not to cancel any plans to visit Outback Queensland.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople shouldn\u2019t abandon the outback if they\u2019re still able to get out there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the recent rains, the greenery and wildflowers will be stunning. It will be a fantastic year to get out there, so we urge our patrons not to cancel travel plans and to head out to enjoy everything our beautiful outback offers.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said support of local businesses will hopefully offset some of the $20 million spending boost the Big Red Bash normally delivers to Outback Queensland each year. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if they want a Bash experience, we\u2019d love them to join us at the Mundi Mundi Bash in August,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aussie revellers who had plans to attend the Birdsville Big Red Bash are being encouraged to still visit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1724,64,281340,63,689,281344,651,281324,281332,281339,281326,9239,134,72668,281342,281337,281333,281335,941,46115,281334,74154,281338,281327,281325,67678,677,281329,701,281336,281331,281328,11804,281343,267430,281341,281330],"class_list":["post-573231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-aussie-revellers","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-beautiful-outback-offers","tag-brisbane","tag-clearest-night","tag-country-hospitality","tag-craig-davidson","tag-cruise-worker-ruins","tag-eastern-asia","tag-entertainment","tag-event-organisers","tag-fantastic-time","tag-festival-team","tag-greg-donovan","tag-ian-laidlaw","tag-japan","tag-jessica-mauboy","tag-kate-cerberano","tag-managing-director","tag-massive-music-festival","tag-matt-williams","tag-multimillion-dollar-event","tag-music-festival","tag-oceania","tag-outback-party","tag-queensland","tag-relocation-issues","tag-shannon-noll","tag-ticket-holders","tag-tokyo","tag-transfer-tickets","tag-travel-plans","tag-worker-ruins-couple","tag-world-class-fossils"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}