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People of Milton Ulladulla, it’s time to rise up and be heard. Our best festival is under threat because of a lack of sponsorship. Your voices are needed to make the big corporations making huge profits in our part of the world take notice and put something back.
If we sound a little militant about it, we are. The Blessing of the Fleet is important not just for us but the whole of the NSW. It’s a signature event that defines us as a region and draws visitors from far and wide, who inevitably help boost the turnover of the big retailers who have set up shop in our town.
While we accept the retail chains employ local people, we also know much of the profit they generate here is shipped out of town and into the dividends paid to shareholders. And we remember how their arrival made it almost impossible for the local small businesses – the butchers and the bakers – to compete.
We think it is only fair they give back to the community and one way they can do this is by sponsoring the Blessing of the Fleet Festival.
It was with considerable alarm we heard the Blessing of the Fleet was in peril because major sponsors were hesitant to come on board with the cash needed to stage the event. The committee will make a call to go ahead or not in November.
Since its revival in 1971, the Blessing of the Fleet has grown exponentially. So, too, have the costs in running it, particularly with the added security measures made necessary by recent terrorist attacks in Europe.
The event costs about $95,000 to stage and has run at a loss for the past three years. Organisers say that cannot go on.
Coles, Woolworths and Target have been singled out in an appeal to reinstate sponsorship. Without their input, we could see an important cultural and religious event fall by the wayside.
These big corporations like to project an image of local involvement but it rings hollow when decisions are made by head office that undercut the success of local events.
So here is an opportunity for them to restore community goodwill by coming to the party with, in the scheme of things, a trifling amount of $20,000. That’s likely less than an hour’s profit on a busy Saturday morning.
We’re not suggesting G20-style protests to make the retail giants take notice. However, letters to the head offices of these companies from locals might just make whoever signs off on sponsorship realise that for us, their loyal customers, it is a big deal.