Neither side will front up and say what the problem is between the Apple and Grape Harvest Festival committee and the SDRC. But, as Shakespeare said, there is something rotten in the state of Denmark.
Mumbled rumours of unfair requests and pulled funds reached the ears of the Town & Country Journal over the past few weeks, with criticism of the mayor bubbling to the surface in social media last week. The Apple and Grape is one of the Southern Downs' highest profile events, and council has been in the habit of kicking in funds through sponsorship agreements. Another key sponsor is the Today group of paper’s Stanthorpe Today, which is managed by the partner of one of Mayor Melissa Hamilton’s sparring partners in council chambers, Cr Russell Wantling.
The stoush appears to be the latest flare up between the mayor and Cr Russell Wantling, who has a history of regularly voting in opposition to the mayor in chambers. However, the mayor claims she wasn’t present at negotiation meetings between the A&G and council staff. That the battle is political seems to be confirmed, with former chair of the Stanthorpe Chamber of Commerce and current member of the A&G committee, Graham Parker claiming that the debacle was a “dig at a current councillor”.
The SDRC had committed $40,000 to the sponsorship agreement, but according to social media posts, the council made the funding conditional to unreasonable requests. “Untenable” was how Mr Parker put it on Facebook. The Facebook post says the A&G committee “decided unanimously to reject their proposal” thereby putting a $40,000 hole in its budget. The mayor described the conditions as being the same as applied to and accepted by other organisation in sponsorship agreements.
The Town & Country Journal attempted to contact Russell Wantling, president of the A&G, twice to confirm this allegation. He did not reply to our calls. Graham Parker did take our call but declined to comment on the issue.
Meanwhile, Mayor Melissa Hamilton confirmed that Council had allocated $40,000 for the sponsorship but were told by the Stanthorpe Festival Association “that it did not require council sponsorship to effectively deliver the 2026 festival.”
“Council, like all major corporate sponsors, requires recipients of ratepayer dollars to sign sponsorship agreements. This is key in ensuring accountability to ratepayers of how their funds will be used and reporting on deliverables. While the clause under discussion was the same as the sponsorship agreement with the previous Council for the 2024 festival, we respect the association’s position and appreciate the transparent way in which the decision has been communicated,” Mayor Hamilton said in a statement.
One source with knowledge of the matter, who did not want to comment publicly but was prepared to speak on background, said that Mayor Hamilton wanted to open the festival and wanted “control” of the program. This cannot be confirmed as neither Mayor Hamilton nor anyone from Apple & Grape would describe the offending clause.
The fall-out has spread outside the shire with another source saying that “politicians at a Federal and State level know what’s going on” between the SDRC and A&G. However, Southern Downs MP James Lister apparently isn’t one of them and when asked, didn’t seem to know about the sponsorship breakdown but said that as far as he knows, A&G is “flush” with sponsorship and is not at risk financially.
Mayor Hamilton insists that throughout the discussions “council engaged constructively and in good faith, seeking to support the continued growth of one of the region’s most iconic community events.” She said that council remains “committed” to local even organisers and that they have signed agreements with “all other groups that were allocated sponsorship funding under this year’s budget”.
Furthermore, A&G is benefiting from a range of in-kind assistance including promotion as the “hero event” in tourism marketing across digital and social media, and servicing through the Warwick and Stanthorpe Visitor Information Centres.
“Council’s Parks & Operations department further supports the 2026 Apple & Grape Harvest Festival by supporting event set-up over the main weekend and providing emergency on-call assistance for facilities, parks and general maintenance needs.”
