City of Bunbury “disappointed” at cancellation of Groovin’ The Moo music festival due to low ticket sales

The City of Bunbury has expressed its disappointment at the cancellation of this year’s Groovin’ The Moo festival, with the news coming as a shock.

Organisers made the surprise announcement on Wednesday, just eight days after tickets went on sale.

The decision blindsided the city, which was given little prior warning of the decision before it was announced to the public.

Bunbury mayor Jaysen Miguel said it was “clearly disappointing” that the major drawcard would not be returning for 2024.

“We understand and feel for the organisers, of course, who have had to make a very tough decision, not just here but across Australia,” he said.

“We hope anyone that’s been affected by it are able to recoup and have no financial strain, but it is as a major event for the region, and it’s certainly a little bit disappointing that it won’t be back again this year.”

Mr Miguel said stakeholders were informed an announcement was coming in the hours before the publicly revealed decision.

“We pretty much almost found out around the same time as a public did, so there’s not much we really could have done in that space,” he said.

GTM organisers on Wednesday said they were “extremely disappointed” in having to make the call and they hoped to be able to bring the tour back to regional communities in the future.

“Ticket sales have not been sufficient to deliver a regional festival of this kind,” they said.

“All tickets will be refunded automatically. Thank you to everybody who has supported the festival.”

The council had committed $13,000 towards part of Bunbury event, and the money is expected to be put back up for grabs in the council’s next events-funding round.

Mr Miguel said he hoped the cancellation would be an once-off, with the council set to reach out to event organisers once the dust settles.

He encouraged community groups who rely on the festival to have discussions with the city.

“Have a conversation with us about what we might be able to help tie into other events that might be coming up, because there is a big schedule of things in the works,” Mr Miguel said.