GABS Craft Beer & Cider Festival has announced a final reschedule of its Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane dates.
The organisers of the GABS Festival first postponed the events back in March when the initial impact of the COVID-19 restrictions were being felt.
After a consultation with key authorities, GABS’ organisers have moved the events to:
GABS Melbourne
Friday 30 October – Sunday 1 November (moving from 7 – 9 August)
Royal Exhibition Building
GABS Brisbane
Saturday 14 November (moving from 26 September)
Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre
GABS Sydney
Friday 27 – Saturday 28 November (moving from 29 August)
Sydney Showground
The Sydney dates include the introduction of a new Friday night session.
However event director Craig Williams said that with the ongoing uncertainty around international travel to New Zealand and venue availability, the Auckland GABS event has been cancelled. It was set to be held on 4th July at the ASB Showgrounds, but even when the original announcement was made GABS said it was subject to change.
He said the GABS team remained committed to staging its events in a COVID Safe manner, and urged any attendees with questions to get in contact with them by phone or emailing [email protected].
For brewers, GABS has released all sales embargoes for any Festival Beers & Ciders that were already in production for the initial dates.
Registrations will be launched on 24th August, and brewers with an existing registration will be given first priority.
GABS said these brewers can choose to continue registration with the same beer or cider, or submit a new product for the events. Any remaining available taps will then be offered to other brewers and cider makers who have not already registered.
Find out more on the GABS Craft Beer & Cider Festival website.
Trying to get a square peg into a round hole guys. Let it go for 2020 guys, there’s more to life than $
Hi Clare, I really hope GABS goes ahead as much as anyone but is there something the GABS team now know that other festival organisers around the country don’t? Who are the “key authorities” that they mention? Is it worth chasing them for clarification before we all go out buying GABS tickets?
We reached out to the organisers and received this response:
“To clarify, we (like many major events) have been working closely with regulatory authorities, venues, key suppliers, and relevant industry associations to develop a ‘COVID Safe’ framework in which events can be run, should restrictions ease in the coming months. As you can imagine, this is an evolving response and will be led by the directions of the Chief Medical Officers in each state. Of course, while the risk of a second COVID wave through winter remains a concern for us all, our aim in moving the event dates to November allows more time for the country to continue to get back on track and restrictions to ease. This is in line with numerous other major events moving to October / November, including City2Surf, FoodService Australia, and various concerts and festivals.”