After having navigated public health guidelines and wild-weather, a popular fiesta was almost derailed by a pair of plovers.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The plovers evidently did not receive any details about the Tassie Scallop Fiesta when they decided to shack up on Bridport's village green to start a family.
Event coordinator Tony Scott said the predicament presented a unique challenge after already adapting to a number of barriers in order to put the fiesta in position to go ahead.
He said the organisation team was faced with two options: place a fence around the nesting pair or obtain a permit from the Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment Department to either move or destroy them.
But it was an unforeseen third option that came to the rescue when it was least expected.
With less than a week to go before the event kicked off on August 1, the doting plover parents were seen fussing over tiny chicks with them having hatched early on Tuesday.
Despite Mr Scott having said he was confident the event would go ahead regardless of the plovers, the final hurdle had been overcome and any uncertainty surrounding the fiesta was gone.
The well-attended Northern Tasmanian event will take place as scheduled, without any plover imperfection, at the weekend.
Mr Scott said, despite the challenges, he was looking forward to the fiesta going ahead.
"We're so lucky that we're able to have things like this when there are people in lockdown in places like Sydney," he said. We look forward to people coming to support it despite the weather."
Twenty-two stalls have signed up for the Scallop Fiesta, on-par with the size of the event as it was held in its first two years.
Mr Scott said provisions had been introduced to help contend with possible weather conditions and expected as many as 2000 people to come by between the scheduled hours of 10.30am to 4pm.