But it was still a little hard to swallow after three years’ hard work by volunteers.

“However, most importantly, the Chamber and town must move on immediately, this is a ‘call to arms’ for us to work together, learn from the past and ensure that whatever we do moving forward has longevity in the town so we don’t waste resources on helping to support things that may move on…valuable resources which are hard enough to find in the first place,” Mr Jackson said.

“The irony is that - the fear of the potential move to Batemans Bay three years ago started to bring the town together, and was the catalyst in forming a great chamber and membership swelled from 30 to over 130.

“Now, judging by the number of new members signing up over the past seven days, the Blues move to Batemans Bay might take us to the next level and we may one day thank Neil for uniting the town.”

The Eurobodalla Shire Council meanwhile confirmed The Blues Festival and Mr Mumme have a 10-year licence to hold a festival on Smyth Oval on the October long weekend operating from 2008. The running of the Blues Festival is part of the management plan for the Smyth Oval.

People interested in using the Oval for an event will need to contact Council to apply for a licence.

Mr Mumme said he was disappointed with the chamber’s criticism and for someone representing businesses in town, surely Mr Jackson must understand if you are standing still you are going backwards.

“Business should not have to rely on the festival on that weekend to survive,” Mr Mumme said.

“If they rely on those three days they’ve got serious problems.

“Nigel was quoted on the ABC saying there were 8000 people attend the Oyster Festival in one day, Narooma can cope with the numbers.

Regarding the cost of the Blues packages, Mr Mumme said he was totally grateful for the efforts of the Friends and packages were actually a net loss for the business of around $12,000 and could not be seen as sponsorship.

“If someone wants to hold an event at Smyth Oval on the long weekend I would encourage it and do what I physically could to support it,” he said.

“We gave Narooma a pretty good 14 years and spent $1.1 million in marketing of our own money selling the town and event.”

Mr Mumme emailed 6000 people on his database and had 116 responses, 19 were negative and 10 were totally supportive, probably from the Bay, the rest while disappointed were keen to keep coming and were supportive.

“As I said last week, it was purely a commercial decision and an offer to purchase the 75 per cent of the business was too good to refuse and any business person makes decisions in the best interest of the business.”

Chamber AGM

THE Narooma chamber’s annual general meeting will be tonight (Wednesday, November 4) at 7pm in the downstairs room of the Servo’s (Club Muzo room).

Members are invited to attend and there will be complimentary nibbles and drinks available from 7.30pm straight after the AGM to help celebrate a good year.

There will also be some new members joining the chamber (membership is now up to 136) and the general meeting will be shorter than usual to allow more time for networking.

Editorial: Life after the Blues Festival

THE Narooma News this week continued its coverage of the loss of the Blues Festival.

The festival was the biggest event in the Narooma calendar so it will be sadly missed but like Neil Mumme says businesses should be able to survive without it.

It was surprising not to get more letters to the editor, but people have probably resigned themselves to it and what more can be said?

I am sure the chamber of commerce meeting tonight will however see some interesting conversation on how the town can move forward.

One idea was to move the Oyster Festival to Smyth Oval on the October long weekend but the timing is out for when the oysters are at their best and besides the Riverside Drive location seems perfect.

What with the Tilba Easter Festival and the chamber’s Monty business awards both going biennial, once every two years, there is less on in the annual Narooma calendar.

And with Bega starting its own sustainability festival and Pambula considering its own oyster festival there is more on further afield.

So we can either focus on what we have or come up with something new, either way, I agree that Narooma doesn’t want to become the Bay.

Letters:

Peter Phelps Bay connection

NOW that the Blues Festival is moving from Narooma to Batemans Bay, we hope that the organisers show courtesy and respect and take the Peter Phelps stage name with them.

Our late cousin and nephew Peter was part of the organising of the inaugural festival and has ancestral ties to the Batemans Bay township.

His great great grandparents (Bettini’s from Fréjus, France) settled in Batemans Bay and later were laid to rest in the township’s old cemetery.

We hope this information is helpful to the organisers in making decisions and the Blues Festival continues to be a popular event for local and visiting people to enjoy.

Jim Brophy and Bill Koerber

Narooma

Narooma needs its own event

THERE are many of us who come to Narooma every October long weekend for the Narooma experience just as much as the festival experience and we wish to continue that experience regardless of Neil Mumme’s "commercial reasons" to move the festival into Batemans Bay.

None of us ever supported the concept of a larger festival. The beauty of The Great Southern Blues & Rockabilly Festival apart from the location is the size.

We realise this is a done deal. Michael Chugg is too big to take on.

But if it means anything to anyone, our group will be boycotting the Batemans Bay event.

We wish to continue our Narooma experience in some way. Let’s hope that enough heads can get together and find a way to formulate a small event to keep people coming to Narooma on the October long weekend for years to come.

You will be surprised by the amount of support you would get.

Ricky Fulton

Northern Illawarra Music Lovers Association