Granny Smith Festival

The Granny Smith festival was another success this year. The day started off cloudy and cool but by late morning the clouds had parted for a hot afternoon. The political supporters with their balloons added spectacle and numbers to the celebration. That is probably the last time we will see such a strong political presence at the festival.

It's hard to make a meaningful judgement of numbers but I would say that the crowd was similar or slightly greater than previous years. The procession was certainly longer. One gripe is that some commercial organisations that do not have any community affiliation or involvement entered the procession just for the purposes of advertising. I don't believe that is consistent with the intention of the festival.

I will be taking up the matter of litter with Council staff. There was more litter on the streets in early evening than I have ever seen in the 20 year history of the festival. I can understand why they cover up the normal street litter bins to prevent them being used, but I can't understand why the larger mobile replacement bins are not located at exactly the same location. People would see a covered bin, look around for a replacement and not see anything (sight is limited to a few metres in that crowd), and then drop their litter on top of the plastic bin covering, only to fall to the ground.

I believe this unsatisfactory situation has arisen from the desire to introduce waste recycling at major community events. I don't think it is working. You have to draw a line somewhere. Is it of greater community benefit to recover recyclables (however contaminated) from the festival and just accept the problems that have been created?