BURLEIGH CAROLS CANCELLED FOR 2011
The Burleigh Heads Christmas Carols for 2011 have unfortunately been cancelled, due to a lack of sponsors necessary to cover staging costs of the biggest Carols event on the Gold Coast.
A Board meeting of the Burleigh Heads Rotary Club, which has administered the Carols on the Burleigh beachfront for the past 27 years, last night (Dec 5) decided there was now insufficient time to attract enough sponsors for the December 11 event.
The Club wants to help stage the Burleigh Carols in 2012 and will begin planning and fundraising after the New Year.The Burleigh Carols this year were anticipated to attract more than 15,000 people to a new,bigger venue, the John Handley Oval at the Burleigh Sports Club on Christine Avenue.The Carols have raised almost $100,000 for local and national charities and are entrenched as an iconic event on the Gold Coast calendar, but they endured a rocky ride over the past few years, due to rising costs, increasing crowds and a struggle to lock in sponsors. Last year’s event was facing cancellation until an eleventh hour fund-‐raising effort made sure the show went ahead.Burleigh Heads Rotary Club president Morgan Rick said the Carols had become an increasingly costly and complex event for a small service club to stage, despite loyal community support.
Mr. Rick said the Burleigh Sports Club had this year offered to help with the staging, along with Gold Coast City Council and Councillor Greg Betts, providing valuable administrative support and a new venue at the Sports Club grounds, the John Handley Sports Complex on Christine Avenue, Burleigh Waters.
“The Carols have enjoyed so much popularity at the Justins Park beachfront site over the years and many families have fond memories of going to the Carols with their children, but we really needed to move to a bigger and safer venue,” Mr. Rick said.“We’ll miss the beachside site as much as anyone but we have just outgrown it.”
“However, despite the best efforts of many of our supporters, we cannot raise sufficientfunds in time to ensure this year’s Carols can proceed,” he said.
“We want to thank those sponsors who had offered funding but we also appreciate many businesses are hurting at the moment.”
The Burleigh Carols performers would have been led by Australia’s biggest voice and popular finalist from Australia’s Got Talent, Burleigh’s own David de Vito.
Mr Rick said many local charities had received donations from the Burleigh Carols, including the Girl Guides, ACT for Kids, Paradise Kids, the Basket Brigade, Currumbin Rural Fire Brigade, Pacific Surf Lifesaving Club, Burleigh Heads Mowbray Park Surf Lifesaving Club and the Burleigh Uniting Church.
