Coogee Live 2022 scrapped due to COVID-19 spread

The City of Cockburn’s flagship two-day festival, Coogee Live, has been cancelled in light of concerns around the evolving COVID-19 cluster in the area.

Coogee Live, which was named the Best Community Event in Australia at the 2021 Australian Event Awards, was scheduled for March 12 and 13.

A lantern parade, crazy crab races, robots, fishing classes, a cake off, pirate adventures and community stages from a mermaid, the Perth Symphony Orchestra and Miss Gail Force had been planned for the festival.

The festival will be replaced with a series of small online celebrations throughout the year, but the details are yet to be announced.

Mayor Logan Howlett said it was a difficult decision but after weighing up the risks, the City believed it was the “most common-sense approach”.

“Due to the growing Cockburn cluster of COVID cases and the prospect of the WA border re-opening at some point in the near future, there is currently a great deal of uncertainty around major events in Western Australia,” he said.

“Holding Coogee Live as a single large-scale event requires a large investment from the City and from the local businesses who supply the event.

“The prospect of last-minute cancellation or a low turn-out due to restrictions – after a great deal of time, effort and funding has already been committed – would be a worst-case scenario for everyone involved.

“This decision removes that risk of a potential super spreader event and allows the festival to continue in a different, but much safer and more secure form.”

City of Cockburn head of library and cultural services Brittany Cover told PerthNow the festival had a $240,000 full running budget.

“The City has incurred a loss of approximately $120,000,” she said.

“Considering the evolving COVID-19 situation, the City believes that cancelling was the common-sense decision to prevent further potential losses and to protect and support festival stakeholders, partners and local businesses.

“We will seek to mitigate the losses through the amended future smaller replacement events.”

Ms Cover said the City would work with stakeholders and vendors in terms of refunds.

“The City looks forward to presenting Coogee Live again in 2023,” she said.

“While COVID-19 continues to raise challenges, the City is committed to providing our community with a range of diverse and engaging events.

“We will continue to liaise with relevant State departments to ensure our event schedule is as safe and responsible as possible.”

The City’s community concert on February 19 will continue as planned unless circumstances changed.

Music-goers will still be able to see Fremantle songbird Stella Donnelly and her band and support act, Afrobeats singer Adrian Dzvuke at the Victor George Kailis Oval at Cockburn ARC.

Meanwhile, the City of Joondalup is on track to hold its premier music event, Valentine’s Concert at the Joondalup Resort Country Club on February 10 (as of January 31).

This year’s main act is the Perth Symphony Orchestra, which will be performing music by the late UK star George Michael.

The City of Joondalup revealed to PerthNow that at this stage, its Valentine’s Concert was still going ahead with just over 6200 tickets sold out of 8000 tickets available so far.

Cockburn’s decision comes after its neighbours, the City of Fremantle, postponed its One Day Smoking Ceremony on January 30 just hours before it was scheduled to be held.

In a statement, the City stated the postponement was due to concerns around the Omicron COVID-19 variant.

“While it’s unfortunate we had to postpone (the) One Day Smoking Ceremony due to uncertainty around the Omicron COVID-19 variant, there’s no doubt this event has been the catalyst for a continuing conversation about reconciliation,” the City stated.

“We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved with One Day, and we look forward to bringing back this powerful and moving celebration once we’re confident we can deliver a COVID-safe event that doesn’t put our vulnerable community at risk.

“For now, let’s look back over the past five years and the impact One Day has had in the national conversation about how we can all celebrate being Australian.”