Maryborough's annual New Year's Day celebration, the Highland Gathering, has been cancelled for 2021.
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The Maryborough Highland Society board made the decision to cancel the 160th event due to the uncertainty of what COVID-19 restrictions will be in place come January, the possibility of few attendees, and bands and competitors being unable to train in the lead-up.
These factors meant the organisation was facing a cost of up to $80,000 to hold the event, more than double what it usually budgets.
"The decision to cancel the Maryborough Highland Gathering for 2021 was one that that the board were very reluctant to make, but one that had to be made now in order to give athletes, bands and entertainment suppliers sufficient notice of our intention," Maryborough Highland Society president Andrew Rae said.
"This decision was made in consultation with bands and athletes who had informed the Society that under the current restrictions that they had not been able to practice nor train, and with the prospect of limited crowd numbers, the Society had no choice but to cancel one of Maryborough's biggest events of the year."
The Maryborough Highland Gathering is considered Australia's oldest continuous sporting event.
The only other time the event has not gone ahead was during World War II, in the years 1942 to 1945.
It typically draws hundreds of people to the town.
A decision on whether the 60th jubilee of the Australian Pipe Championships will go ahead next April is yet to be made.
The event has already been postponed once, having originally been scheduled to take place in April 2020.
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