FABAlice 2021 predictably drew a smaller interstate crowd than last year, when the LGBTIQA+ spectacular “snuck in” just before the COVID outbreak.
Event Manager Dale McIver says this year 10% of the crowd, some 50 people, came from all states other than Tasmania and ACT.
Last year the figure was 24% last year when the spectacular pumped half a million dollars into the town.
But the 3rd FABAlice managed to squeeze 12 events into the three day festival, ranging from the over-18 Carnivale to the Drag Queen Story Time.
The 500 people taking part in the weekend generated an overall attendance of 2000.
Ms McIver says the fest’s brave success is a sign that the wider public regards the Territory as a comparatively safe place in the global pandemic.
As a mostly open air event the infection risk is further reduced, like a string of other events going ahead this year, with precautions in place that are far from onerous.
Already touted as going ahead are the Finke Desert Race, Parrtjima, Beanies Fest, the Longest Lunch, Desert Song and the Wide Open Spaces in Ross River, the first COVID-regulated camping out event in the NT, says Ms McIver.
PHOTO from the FABAlice site.