They were last year stripped of all council support and told their monthly markets could no longer operate from Montague Street.

Instead of imploding altogether, the Festival organisers carried on.

They oversaw the 2014 edition with limited council support – all for the unremarkable profit of $43.

Council’s decision this week to call for tenders to conduct a springtime fair leaves the committee at a crossroads.

They have three options: make a submission to host said springtime fair; tell council to jam it and conduct the Festival anyway; or fold altogether.

History indicates there’s only one likely answer.

The Lilac Time Festival has been held – rain, hail or shine – since 1952. Furthermore, the committee’s public officer, Heather Landow, has vowed “the show will go on”.

“There will be a Lilac festival in some form,” Mrs Landow says (see story, page 3). Despite Mrs Landow’s grumblings, councillors’ decision to withdraw support for the Festival committee is justified.

Upon making that decision in October of 2013, Councillors Margaret O’Neill and Bob Kirk concluded that “a renewable injection of community enthusiasm for a communitybased festival is needed”.

That’s a fair point, given the Lilac Festival’s waning popularity.

Moreover, Council contributes around $5000 of ratepayers’ money to the event. Surely such money could be better spent elsewhere, general manager Warwick Bennett argues.

Their call for greater community input is reasonable, too.

Obtaining a seat on the Lilac Committee is by no means a straightforward task.

The committee is not, therefore, reflective of the wider community.

Goulburn citizens also need to put their money where their mouth is.

Plenty of us state, either through letters or social media, that the festival in its current form should be retained.

Comments such as “leave the festival alone” and “it’s a part of Goulburn” abound when the subject hits the media.

But this sentiment hasn’t translated into festival participation or its growth.

A combination of community apathy and the reluctance from organisers to embrace new ideas is cruelling this once iconic event.

Irrespective of the politicking, the Lilac Festival will return for edition number 64 on the long weekend of October, 2015. It will surely feature on the calendar in 2016, too.

Whether or not it survives this body blow long-term, however, remains to be seen…