IT will be a little quieter than usual in Sandford over the Labour Day long weekend next month, with COVID-19 restrictions forcing the cancellation of the Sandford Bush Music Festival.

Organiser, Gary Williams said the decision was made in December to postpone the town’s biggest event of the year until 2022.

He said it wasn’t possible to hold the event within the COVID-19 restrictions.

“We made the decision not to run in 2021 a little while back and instead put it off until the same time next year,” he said.

“Even back in December the restrictions made it impossible to hold an event like this and now that we’re in lockdown just three weeks out from the weekend, I’m even more sure it was the right decision.”

Mr Williams said to get a permit the festival would have needed to have dedicated seating for each ticket.

“That’s just not possible for a festival,” he said.

“The point of a festival is to be able to move around and see all the different acts … and we couldn’t do that if we had to have dedicated seating.”

He said the uncertainty around border restrictions and the future also had an influence on the decision.

“You can’t even plan ahead for this weekend at the moment, let alone for a couple of weeks or months into the future,” he said.

“It would have been terrible to drag people in from interstate and across Victoria, only for restrictions to mean we’d have to cancel or they’d be stuck here.

“It’s disappointing … but it’s not the end of the earth.