Organisers have met numerous brick walls in their attempts to secure a suitable stage for the concert and have now opted to cancel the event rather than continue along an increasingly frustrating path.

“We applied the to council and filled out all the necessary paperwork to hold the concert at the park,” Kempsey Country Music Festival committee president Pauline Fisher said.

“MVT (Macleay Valley Transport) normally donate a truck for a stage and we applied to get that up and running down at the riverbank, but we were told by the council the insurance wouldn’t cover a truck for a stage.

“They told us to go to Terry Keane’s and hire a stage, but he told us all the stages he had were already being used up at the racecourse (for the main festival).

“So as a last resort we got a lounge room-sized piece of carpet and were going to use that, but the council rang to tell me that due to the insurance again, we can’t use the carpet.”

Kempsey Shire’s Economic Development officer Kathy Oliver said, while it was unfortunate, the council must follow the advice of its insurance brokers.

“The festival committee is a Section 355 sub-committee of council, meaning they come under our insurance,” she said.

“And our insurance requires any stage to be WorkCover certified and approved.

“I know it’s getting hard and it’s not that we like making it hard, but we have to make sure everyone is protected.

“It’s also important to reinforce with the community that you have to go through this process today, not just with us, but everywhere.”

The festival is held over four days from October 30 and organisers had planned to hold the free public concert on the Saturday featuring up to 30 artists, including talented young up and comers.

It’s the 17th year the festival has been staged in Kempsey and various shows and events will be held at locations across the Macleay.

“People have said to us in the past why don’t you have a concert down at Riverside Park? So this year we thought we would,” Ms Fisher said.

“I cannot believe it. There’s talk of not going ahead with the festival next year because things are just getting so much harder.”

Ms Fisher said the only chance the concert had of surviving was if someone donated a stage.