The Maldon Folk Festival has decided to cancel its November event to keep residents, musicians and visitors safe from coronavirus.
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Festival director Pam Lyons said the decision was made last week.
"(It) was made when numbers where at 191 (that day), Melbourne was locked down to mid August and the numbers going up and up and up. Basically it was not safe to run it," she said.,
"It's not financially viable to have the four-square meter rule. I mean with only 50 people in a venue, you don't get the same feel and enjoyment for it."
"The bare minimum of organisation needed to be started in July, so we could have got it up and running if when the first postcodes closed, we contained it then."
Ms Lyons said there were also other considerations needed about logistics around performances at the festival.
"It was things like does every (performer) need to bring their own microphone, do we have to wipe microphone stands between sets? Do we have to clean the venue and wipe seats between gigs," she said. "To be COVID safe with high (case) numbers, it is impossible.
"The borders are closed so there are no international performers able to come and interstate performers have to isolate for two weeks at their own expense. All in all it is too difficult."
This year would have been the Maldon Folk Festival's 47th year. Ms Lyons said about 1600 ticket holders and volunteers usually attend the event.
"We also get maybe another 1000, depending on the weather, that come for the free entertainment on the streets," she said. "But the town is too small to have social distancing with that many (visitors).
"Along with Easter, this is one of Maldon's biggest events but (cancelling) was just common sense and safest for the people in town, visitors and performers.
"We also only had about a third of billeters (volunteer) as well, so musicians would have had to camp. It was all just too much."