News / Council
Annual street party safe … for now
Final decision about event’s future will be made in Spring
Mark Phillips
Friday, May 15, 2026
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Merri-bek Council has deferred a decision about the future of the Sydney Road Street Party until September, leaving a cloud hanging over whether the event will continue to be held annually.
Councillors agreed on Wednesday night to postpone a final decision on a proposal to shake-up its festivals program to allow more consultation about the controversial plan to hold the street party once every two years.
With a community backlash brewing, most councillors indicated they would be uncomfortable with reducing the frequency of the iconic event, which attracts tens of thousands of visitors on the first Sunday of March every year.
There was less support for continuing the Coburg Night Market on an annual basis.
But councillors were unable to reach a unified position to retain the events as they are, leading to a deferral for four months.
The postponement of a decision about the street party came at the end of a long debate in the council chamber about the proposal for what council staff describe as a “refresh” of its festival program.
They have recommended cutting both the Sydney Road Street Party and the Coburg Night Market – a more recent event held over three consecutive weekends in December at Bridges Reserve – back to biennial events. If the recommendation is adopted, it would most likely mean the Sydney Road event would not be held again until 2028.
In a report included in the council agenda, council staff said resources allocated to running the events in Brunswick and Coburg every year should be reallocated to a new festival in the north of Merri-bek.
They said the street party, which has been held annually since 1991 apart from the Covid years, posed logistical challenges and absorbed too many resources from being spent elsewhere.
At the council meeting on Wednesday night, Bababi Djinanang ward councillor Sue Bolton sought to have the Sydney Road Street Party preserved as an annual event but to move the Coburg Night Market to a biennial event from this year.
Bolton acknowledged that people would be disappointed at the loss of an annual event in Coburg, but a compromise had to be reached. She said a large annual event like the Sydney Road Street Party was needed for social cohesion.
“This process has been really bad where a lot of people have only found out [about the proposed changes] through the media once a council agenda was made public,” Bolton said.
“We need to resolve this this year rather than dawdling to next year.”
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Warrk Warrk councillor Adam Pulford, seconding Bolton’s motion, said deferring a decision would create further uncertainty.
Pulford said the Sydney Road Street Party had a deep history and was Merri-bek’s premier community event, drawing visitors from across Melbourne.
“There’s a clear and overwhelming call from our community to say let’s keep this as an annual event, it’s so important for us,” he said.
Pulford said the Coburg Night Market was a newer event and running it only once every two years would not have the same impact as cutting the Sydney Road Street Party.
But other councillors said they wanted more time to consult with the broader community about any changes to the festivals program, resulting in a deferral of any decision until September.
Mayor Nat Abboud, who had advocated deferring any decision about the future of the annual events for even longer until next February, said she could not support any proposal that reduced festivals activity in her coburg-based ward.
Abboud said she was concerned the future of the festivals would become a “political football” in the upcoming state election campaign and that the issue was pitting the north and the south of the city against each other.
Both Bolton and Pulford eventually voted to defer the decision to September along with all other councillors bar Abboud, who abstained.
Earlier, during the regular public question time at the start of each council meeting, Sydney Road Brunswick Association president Julie Cini questioned why there had not been community engagement before the proposal to cut the street party was first put on the table for a decision.
In a strongly worded message to traders earlier this week, the association warned cutting the event would detract from marketing of the precinct, dampen business activity and “Remove a sense of community, affinity, and annual collective celebration”.
Opposition to cutting the Sydney Road festival did not come only from Brunswick residents and organisations.
Ian Mack, representing the Anglican parish of Will Will Rook in Glenroy, asked why the council could not spend additional funds on new community events and festivals rather than cutting existing ones.
He said events that connected the community were essential in an historical period of “challenge and rupture”.
“Sydney Road festival is the pinnacle festival of our municipality,” he said.
“Having it become biennial would be a deeply saddening event.
“It’s a drawcard across the whole entire city and groups from across our whole city participate there so you have a lively, vibrant interactive event that draws people from all over the City of Merri-bek and indeed probably from all across the greater city of Melbourne.”
The proposal to cut the frequency of the street party has also been condemned by Wills MP Peter Khalil, who said more festivals in the north of Merri-bek should not come at the expense of popular existing events.
“The Sydney Road Street Party has run annually since 1991. It’s a huge boost for local businesses and store holders, a massive cultural and artistic celebration, and in a world where in-person community events are dwindling, it continues to grow year on year,” he said on social media.
“The Coburg Night Market held in December, while newer, has become a staple for our community.”
In a further blow, on Friday it was announced that Dan Rizk, also known as MzRizk, had resigned as music programmer for the Brunswick Music Festival, Sydney Road Street Party and Coburg Night Market.
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Short sighted by the Merri-Bek councilors to have either Sydney Rd Festival or the night market every 2nd year. We need more community events not less.
What are the alternatives that they would like to implement in the North? Glenroy & Fawkner are obvious locations what would be the themes to attract community attendance?
I think both events service the whole of the municipality and it would be such a shame to stop them annually been held. The Coburg Night Market is such a great place to meet community member I have not seen during the year. It is also the only place I do my festive present buying.
To raise money why don’t the council make an official “guide” to the festival and charge money to be in the guide. There are heaps of ways of the council directly making more money from the event that they spend.