Organisers confirmed the event, which injects more than $10 million into the local economy, would be cancelled for the second year as Covid restrictions continue to take their toll.The Ute Muster attracts more than 20,000 people to Deniliquin, a small country NSW town close to the Victorian border.General manager Vicki Lowry said it was a “crushing” blow to the town’s economy.“Unfortunately the more time we spent waiting, the money we were losing,” she said.“The last two days have been quite emotional because we’ve been having to make phone calls to undo 10 months of work.“We don’t have a crystal ball to tell us what things will look like in seven weeks time and that is why we ended up making the difficult decision.”Ms Lowry said it was important to keep the community safe.“The cancellation goes beyond our paid workers, we have volunteers who look forward to this every year,” she said.“In the two days the event is held, $8 million is put into the local economy and that’s without the $1.5 million we invest as organisers in the lead-up.“We try and source everything locally but unfortunately with such a big event that isn’t always possible.“Then there’s all the money which gets put into our community groups who give up their time.“It’s a cancellation which impacts everyone in our town.”Ms Lowry said another big crowd had been expected before the event was canned.“Because we have such a large site it previously looked like 20,000 people was a possibility again,” she said.“Unfortunately the current public health order made our management a lot more difficult and the costs to manage it would have been huge.”All current ticket holders for 2021 will be automatically transferred to the next event to be held Friday, September 30 to Saturday, October 1 2022.Refund requests are available from 9am Thursday until 5pm on October 31.brayden.may@news.com.au
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