Axed Maitreya Festival To Go Ahead At A New Location

UPDATE 10/03/16: Maitreya Festival has been officially cancelled.

Victoria’s Maitreya Festival has been rescued from the brink of death, with organisers announcing that it will go ahead at a new location.

The bush doof, which last year raked in more than $2.1 into the pockets of local businesses in the drought-stricken Buloke Shire in the north-west of Victoria, was canned one after the local council rejected its permit application.

It sparked a bit of a brouhaha, with council claiming that illegal works were being conducted at the site location and alleging that organisers had not been able to provide several documents necessary to gain their permit for another year, while festival organisers publicly dubbed their claims BS.

They reckoned that there was only one document missing – a cultural heritage management plan – which they were still working on with locals at the time their application was rejected. “All other documents asked for have been given to the shire,” they posted on Facebook.

It sparked locals to create a ‘Save Maitreya‘ Facebook group, which quickly swelled to over 4,000 members.

And it seems their support has paid off.

Posting to Facebook on Friday, organisers revealed that they had secured a brand new venue for the festival, “just down the road” from its original site at Wooroonook Lakes.

“DONT WORRY U CAN STILL BRING YOUR BATHERS!!!!” They posted. “C U ALL ON THE DANCE FLOORS!”

Though they have not announced the exact location at this point, it seems the electronic music and alternative lifestyle festival will go ahead as scheduled, to mark its 10th anniversary.