Carols by Candlelight won't go ahead in Albury or Wangaratta

Albury Council revealed in September their annual carols event would not go ahead, but hope was sparked last week when councillor Murray King asked for staff to re-explore whether the event could go ahead.

Following a meeting of senior council management on Tuesday, mayor Kevin Mack confirmed that it was not possible for the event to go ahead.

Instead, council will host a series of small events with buskers and entertainment across Albury, Lavington and hopefully Thurgoona in the lead up to Christmas.

"Carols as an event is a six month planning process... which couldn't happen this year because of COVID uncertainty," Cr Mack said.

Cr Mack said December's Music in the Gardens event would also have a distinctive festive spirit.

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Cr King said the decision was 'very disappointing'.

"It's disappointing for our children, disappointing for our adults and the elderly community who really like this event," he said.

"I think we pulled the trigger too early with it.

"I just thought it was a good opportunity to showcase that as an organisation we're resilient and bounce back, however people on higher pay grades than me made this decision."

In Wangaratta, Lions Club President Lori Ormand said it simply wasn't possible for their annual carols event to go ahead with the COVID restrictions outlined in the Victoria's roadmap to reopening.

"Because it's such a big event, we have over 3000 people attend, it was classed as a major event," she said.

"We worked out with the one person per square metre rule we'd be limited to 761 patrons, even if we looked at a two square metre rule and included the whole area we could still only have 1523 people, and we just can't say no to people."

Mrs Ormand said the event would have had to be ticketed and volunteers would need to check people's vaccination status.

"How do you say to a child, 'No you have got to buy a ticket or register?' There's just so many COVID restrictions at the moment," she said.

The Lions Club president said they had been preparing for the event, so to have to cancel it was heartbreaking.

The club has also had to cancel their swap meet due to the demands of COVID restrictions on organisers and stall holders.

Mrs Ormand said more than $300,000 was donated back into the community from the swap meet since 2011, so the loss of both events was a blow.

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