Festival’s Demise Leaves Small Businesses in the Lurch
The abrupt cancellation of the iconic Bluesfest festival, just weeks before it was set to kick off, has sent shockwaves through the small business community in the Northern Rivers region and beyond. With the festival entering liquidation, a trail of unpaid invoices and undelivered goods has left many operators scrambling to stay afloat, their livelihoods hanging precariously in the balance.
One such business is Uniform Print Lab, a family-owned company based in Tweed Heads. They find themselves with over 6,000 Bluesfest-branded T-shirts, along with caps, bags, lanyards, tea towels, and 5,000 stubby coolers, all now sitting idle in a Gold Coast warehouse. The company was expecting its final payment of $65,000 upon delivery of the merchandise, a sum that would have significantly bolstered their financial standing. However, with the festival’s liquidation, that payment is now a distant hope.
Linda Sutton, co-owner of Uniform Print Lab, described the weekend following the news as a blur of sleepless nights and frantic brainstorming. “All weekend we haven’t slept, we’ve been tossing up 10,000 ideas of how we can fix this,” she explained. Her immediate concern is to settle outstanding debts with creditors, amounting to $25,000, and avoid a sudden financial crisis.
Despite the volume of branded merchandise, Uniform Print Lab is legally unable to sell it to recoup their losses. Ms Sutton has received advice that because Bluesfest had already paid a deposit, the goods are now considered the property of the receivers. “It’s gut-wrenching,” she stated, encapsulating the profound disappointment and financial distress faced by many.
Calls for Accountability and Government Intervention
The plight of Uniform Print Lab is far from isolated. Scores of small business operators, from stallholders to service providers, were set to benefit from Bluesfest 2026. The state member for Ballina, Tamara Smith, has reported her office being inundated with calls from concerned local businesses.
“I’m so devastated on their behalf, it’s just awful,” the Greens MP commented. “Everyone has a right to be really, really angry. Three weeks out, you don’t necessarily get refunds for anything, let alone the tickets.” Ms Smith expressed frustration at the lack of clear communication, stating, “We have no information and that’s reprehensible. If it was me, I would be making sure there was a hotline for people to contact.”
When questioned about the possibility of a last-minute government bailout, Ms Smith indicated that such an opportunity had likely passed. “I think that last year was the opportunity to help Bluesfest, there was a conversation around the long-term future, I don’t know what happened to those conversations,” she mused.
Ms Smith also voiced her opinion on the sustainability of private corporations running major cultural festivals. “What I do know is that the model of private corporations for festivals is deeply flawed, people have rightly said, ‘Why should we be giving [government] money to corporations?’ I agree,” she asserted. “I think cultural festivals should be not-for-profit enterprises and that way [government] could comfortably support them as experiences of culture and music and the arts, as opposed to a money-making venture.”
A History of Government Support
This is not the first time Bluesfest has received government backing. In 2025, the NSW government provided a grant of $250,000 through the Contemporary Music Festival Viability Fund. Additionally, the festival received an undisclosed sum from Destination NSW for the now-cancelled 2026 event.
Further financial support was allocated in December of last year, with Bluesfest awarded $333,333 for a street festival in Brunswick Heads, intended to run in conjunction with the main event. This funding was part of the 2026-2027 Open Streets Program Foundation Event funding. The ABC understands that Bluesfest had, by the time of its liquidation, received approximately $200,000 of this grant.
Bluesfest management declined to comment directly, referring inquiries to the appointed liquidator, Worrells.
Demands for a Forensic Audit
Mark Swivel, a lawyer from Barefoot Law who previously represented Bluesfest stallholders seeking refunds after COVID-related cancellations, has been contacted by businesses affected by the latest crisis. He noted that while previous situations involved a fight for partial refunds, the current circumstances appear more complex.
“The state government should conduct an inquiry into how the grant money was spent,” Mr Swivel advocated. “The money should be tracked and a forensic accountant is the right person to conduct that inquiry.” He emphasised the reliance many had placed on Bluesfest to deliver a successful event, stating, “Bluesfest lobbied the state government for the money, a lot of people were relying on Bluesfest to come through and for this to be a big event.”
Mr Swivel also warned that many stallholders are likely to be classified as unsecured creditors, potentially leaving them with no recourse to recover their losses. The fallout from Bluesfest’s liquidation is far-reaching, highlighting the vulnerability of small businesses within the events industry and raising serious questions about financial transparency and accountability.
