Organisers of the Blue Lake City Brass Band Festival are looking forward to the annual festive event hopefully returning to the calendar next November, but say all is not lost this year.

One of the state’s most accomplished groups, the combined Marion and Warriparinga Brass Bands, will visit on the weekend of November 20 to stage an informal concert with the City Band.

The Marion band has won many awards at national, state and local contests.

Brass bands would normally converge on Mount Gambier each November to participate in the Christmas Parade and compete in the festival, but both fixtures have been cancelled for a second successive year because of COVID-19 restrictions.

The festival is a Lions Club of Mount Gambier project led by Allen Woodham.

“The Marion and Warriparinga bands have been an integral contributor to the November event for many years,” Mr Woodham said.

“Despite the 2021 and the 2022 festivals being cancelled the members decided they were keen to come to Mount Gambier and enjoy the city and the comradeship of the local City Band’s members.”

The November 20 concert will start at 11am at the City Band Hall and feature music for everyone.

To add to the day, Tim Kelly from www.brassbanned.com will stream a ‘back to Mount Gambier’ broadcast featuring vision from previous festivals.

The channel is open and operates without a paywall.

“Tim has been a great supporter of the Mount Gambier parade and festival for many years and is keen to remind the world the festival is planned to hopefully return in its traditional format in 2022,” Mr Woodham said.