THE future of the Gisborne Festival could be in doubt if its committee cannot find members to fill vacancies.
Festival committee secretary David Tunbridge said five out of eight members on the festival committee were retiring this year.
The Gisborne Festival was originally held as a Friday night event in December.
But in 2006, violence marred the event and police were called to control large groups of youths from Sunbury, forcing a change in format.
Mr Tunbridge said it was vital that residents attend the committee's annual general meeting on July 13.
"We're looking for fresh ideas to improve the existing format and make it relevant to the growing community of Gisborne. Anyone who has any ideas or contributions is encouraged to come along to the meeting.
"If we can't replace the five committee members we are losing, we can't forge ahead. We need more than four or five people on the committee to truly represent the town.
"If you have enough people on board to share the workload, it provides motivation to keep going. If you don't, it's dead boring and you ask yourself if people really care about the event." Mr Tunbridge said the new daytime festival, held on the first Sunday in March, had received positive feedback, but there was room for improvement.
"We are keen to keep a festival in Gisborne and to develop a format that will continue into the future.
"We all talk about trying to keep Gisborne a village community and prevent the urban sprawl, but when it comes to community events it seems to fall on deaf ears."
Mr Tunbridge said there was potential to change the direction of the festival with the first annual Show & Shine car show proving successful this year.
He said the committee was open to ideas and "anything was possible", including a return to the successful night-time event.
"Night-time does better than daytime. It was close to the Christmas holiday period and lots of people turned up to enjoy the fireworks and amusements."
The festival relies on financial contributions from Macedon Ranges Council and the Gisborne business community.
Mayor John Letchford said any community event such as the festival was good for the town.
"Any of these community events are really great because they bring the wider community together."
He agreed that the day festival had been well received.
"There was always a concern to change from a night-time event to the day event. At the moment, it seems to be working and there are less problems.
"The element that was coming from outside the shire is not present.
"Quite frankly, the community was fed up with that and it was a key factor in having the event changed."
Acting Senior Sergeant Shane Brundell said the festival was a great opportunity for local businesses and services to showcase what they had to offer the community and led to an increase in tourism and revenue for the town.
He said the decision to move the festival from a night to a day event had been very positive.
"It was very unfortunate that in the last years of the festival being a night event, a small minority of young people were intent on causing damage and trouble around the area.
"Excessive alcohol intake had a large part to play with some young people acting inappropriately."
The Gisborne Festival annual general meeting is at the Gisborne Community Centre, Neil Street, Gisborne, 6.30pm July 13.
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