Victoria council to consider providing FernFest with $20K for this year’s event

During this week’s committee of the whole, Victoria’s city council will consider a motion to provide FernFest with $20,000 to produce an event this year. 

In early March, FernFest organizers Fernwood Neighbourhood Resource Group (NRG) announced there would be no event in 2026 due to resources and capacity being spread thin. 

“We have decided not to host FernFest in 2026 as we explore new ways of celebrating and welcoming neighbours from across the street and throughout our community,” wrote the Fernwood NRG in a post on their website.  

Now, Councillors Matt Dell and Jeremy Caradonna are advocating for providing funding to Fernwood NRG so there can be an event this summer. 

According to Dell and Caradonna, FernFest is the largest and most well-attended of the neighbourhood festivals in the city.

Since it was announced there would be no FernFest in 2026, there has been a massive community response, making it clear that the festival is significant to many Victorians. 

Following this feedback, Fernwood NRG held a workshop on how to carry on the festival. 

Those discussions resulted in third-party operators stepping up to help FernFest happen this year, and they have since applied to the City for event permits. 

Because of the short-lived cancellation, the operators who took on producing FernFest have missed the application window for the Festival Investment Grant and other City-funded opportunities.

Dell and Caradonna determined that city council could help get funds into the new operators’ hands via the recently increased ‘My Great Neighbourhood’ grant. 

The total allocation for this grant from the City’s budget was recently increased to $200,000, whereas in past years no more than around $140,000 has been spent annually. 

So, the motion they are presenting to council would see $20,000 of the My Great Neighbourhood grant given to FernFest. This would have no impact on taxes or the budget, and represents the approximate funding provided to the event in years past.

“In a moment in which arts and culture are struggling, it’s important to find ways to support the continuity of beloved, free-to-the-public community arts events, while operating within our limited budget,” reads Dell and Caradonna’s motion. 

This matter will be discussed during the committee of the whole meeting on Thursday, May 7th.