What The Hell Happened With Mardi Gras in 2024?
Image: Bondi Beach Party at Mardi Gras 2024. Source: Mardi Gras/Instagram
In 2024, Mardi Gras faced some significant issues: parade attendance was down by more than 50%, party tickets did not sell out and many events were cancelled completely.
Held the year after Sydney hosted World Pride, there were always going to be challenges. The last time Australia hosted a major international LGBTQI event – in 2002, when Sydney hosted the Gay Games – Mardi Gras went bust and the organisation had to be rescued.
Attendance
It appears that Mardi Gras 2024 saw the lowest attendance of spectators for the parade in over a decade.
The morning after the parade, Mardi Gras issued a press release claiming 250,000 people had been in attendance. But NSW Police and several news sources posited the number at 120,000, with 12,500 marching.
The parade numbers that Mardi Gras’ have reported over the last decade have run from 200,000 to 500,000. Leaving out the two years that Mardi Gras was held at the Sydney Cricket Ground during COVID (because attendance was obviously limited by stadium capacity), the remaining years average out to approximately 293,000 attendees per year.
With crowd numbers down by more than 50% parade goers had more room to stretch and there was less jostling for position, but Mardi Gras sponsors expect large hordes to turn up on the day.
While it’s reasonable to expect an attendance drop of some kind after Sydney hosted World Pride last year, the actual drop in numbers is quite remarkable – and even significantly lower than any year in the last decade.
Ticket sales
This year also saw ticket sales not sell quite as well as expected for some of the biggest events on Mardi Gras’ calendar.
In previous years, there were complaints about events being oversold and turning people away, like the debacle in 2020 where 10,000 tickets were sold to the Parade After Party, which had a capacity of 5,500.
But instead, this year there seemed to be the opposite problem – tickets simply didn’t seem to be selling.
The Bondi Beach party was advertised as being ‘15,000 people [at] the biggest party of the 2024 Festival’, but only 6000~ people ended up attending, according to Gay Sydney News.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that ticket prices were causing controversy, particularly during a time when most Australians are experiencing a serious cost-of-living crunch.
The tickets were originally advertised at $239 (plus booking fees) each for both the Bondi event and the parade after-party at the Hordern Pavilion. In previous years, those events cost $179 and $155 respectively.
Cancellations
There were also cancellations of various events on the 2024 Mardi Gras calendar at the last minute.
A notable example is the cancellation of the Queer Futures event, which was advertised as being a variety of discussions and roundtables about how we see our community progressing in the next 50 years, with a diverse group of speakers.
Cancelled just two days before the event, the reason given was simply “unforeseen circumstances”, with refunds offered and promises to reschedule for later in the year.
But the biggest shock was the cancellation of Fair Day. The pivotal Mardi Gras community event was also cancelled with just days to go before the event, due to bonded asbestos being found in Victoria Park.
“Following a more detailed investigation into the safety concerns at Victoria Park, it has become clear to the City and Sydney Mardi Gras that an event of the scale of Fair Day is unable to proceed this Sunday”, a statement from Mardi Gras read.
The community called for it to be relocated, and other Sydney parks and venues offered their space so the beloved event could go ahead, but Mardi Gras CEO Gil Beckwith told AAP that relocating the event at the last minute was “nigh on impossible”.
“Putting on an event the size of Fair Day takes many months of planning, logistics and coordinating of stakeholders – something that is just not possible to arrange during the next 17 days,” Beckwith said in a statement.
Fair Day is a vital and community-focussed part of the Mardi Gras calendar. The stallholders at Fair Day are the lifeblood of the LGBTQI community; small businesses, community organisations, LGBTQI non-for-profit organisations and health and wellbeing services.
These stallholders suddenly had the event cancelled beneath their feet, some losing their only presence at Mardi Gras and many experiencing significant financial losses – all with just days’ notice.
Star Observer spoke to Jarrod Lomas, President of the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Business Association (SGLBA), who said the cancellation had “an incredible impact” on small business owners who were set to have stalls at Fair Day.
“LGBTQIA+ small businesses and community organisations had invested thousands of dollars on the event. From the cost of the stall to custom materials, stock, activations, giveaways and promotional items, it all adds up – not to mention the lost income from sales and donations.
“What we saw in the days after the cancellation was incredible – and there was a lot of goodwill out there for the difficult position Mardi Gras was in. […] But there are still questions that need answering. Six weeks on from the cancellation, and we still don’t have answers from Mardi Gras to these very fair, and reasonable questions.”
What does this mean for Mardi Gras long-term?
Mardi Gras is obviously the biggest LGBTQI event on Australia’s calendar, but that is not to say it is infallible.
Back in 2002, Mardi Gras reached a point of financial ruin and came very close to being cancelled.
Headlines at the time read:
“The carnival may be over for Sydney’s Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras”
“Gay abandon — Mardi Gras on the rocks.”
In an interesting parallel to last year’s World Pride being hosted in Sydney, 2002 was also tied to an enormous and big-budget global LGBTQIA+ event being hosted in Australia – Sydney hosting the Gay Games.
The Gay Games in Sydney were a huge deal. It was the first time it had been held in the Southern Hemisphere, and more than 11,000 athletes competed.
Mardi Gras’ potential downfall was also put down general feeling amongst the community of acceptance; that all the battles have been fought and won – so therefore, we can relax.
David Mills, who was at the time a journalist with Star Observer, told the ABC the community was “caught between moments”.
“We had a couple of years there where the big battles had been fought, we thought that we were reasonably equal, and there was that sense of — what now? Do we just move out to the suburbs? Where does the fight go?”
Many will tell you there is a similar feeling floating through the community now – and this could be a contributor to the drop in numbers that we saw at Mardi Gras in 2024.
But what 2002 shows us is that Mardi Gras is not infallible – and even against all odds, we all must, as a bonded community, continue to show up so Mardi Gras can continue on for future generations.
Star Observer reached out for comment, but Mardi Gras did not respond to requests for comment at time of publishing.
The whole event is too inflated and monetised to have any meaning for the community. It’s mainly driven by profit and what’s next bigger and brighter.
Scale it back to a modest and meaningful size. Seems like with the stats it’s happing by default.
Ticket prices are absurd and should be scaled back without the flash. Give more focus to suburban communities in the west. It’s seems like this is and has been a more eastern suburbs event.
LGBTQI are everywhere why travel to the centre when there is none fading fast.
Not to mention the fact that many gays are feeling alienated by all the woke stuff that is infecting gay organisations eg the head of Mardi Gras writing to the PM telling him that gay people stand with Palestinians etc. Damned cheek purporting to speak for all of us. There are many other examples including the fact it is very difficult to get anything published in the gay press that disagrees with attitudes that are being forced not only on us but everyone else as well. Some of us deplore the way we/all of us are being portrayed in the media as pushing over the top agenda’s of the transgender community and as we aren’t “radicals” there is no longer the same pride in being seen as part of the gay community.
In our country town we have a community parade…it’s nice but boring…Mardi gras is just equal to this now…it is filled with community groups of people wearing a tshirt, logo, and nothing else…finish Mardi gras. No one interstate is interested…I remember when in the 1990s we’d travel to see an edgy political sexy Sydney parade full of floats, marching boys, girls, drag, and kink groups…now days, we’d probably see a group from the local Woolworths marching behind a white truck with a few lights. It’s become so woke, stale, uninteresting…can it and let it die olease
I already reached out to you at the time of Mardi Gras. The reason I boycotted Mardi Gras was the back flip on the police presence. I also know many others that avoided for the same reason. So you can look for any excuse, but there is a huge part of your lack of attendance!
Maybe ticket sales were down for two main reasons.
1) They were too expensive
2) The cost of Living has gone through the roof and people simply find just day-to-day living is a battle and nothing is left for fun things
We did not attend because it was too expensive to get to Sydney let alone pay the exorbitant prices for hotels etc.
We did try to watch the parade on TV but gave up because the ABC-TV commentators and their “guests” showed no interest in the parade at all and only wanted to chatter about themselves. No apologies, people, but we are simply not interested in anything any of you have to say.
Were there any new floats? was there annything really different to all the other G&L Mardi Gras? Just seemed a bit tacky and tired – or those bits the chatterers allowed us to see seemed to be.
i was not at the Mardi Gras this year and when i watched it on the ABC i thought there was some bias there as WELL POOR COVERAGE ….GO BACK TO SBS BUT ALSO WHEN THE PRICE GET OVER TH TOP FOR ALL SORTS OF THINGS IT WOULD BE NICE IF, THEY, THE SO CALLED ORGANISERS, UNDERSTOOD OR AT LEAST TRIED TO, THAT MONEY DOES NOT GROW ON TREES EVEN FOR US GAY FOLKS…. THE MANAGEMENT OF THIS IMPORTANT PARADE NEEDS TO HAVE A GOOD LOOK AT THEM SELVES AND BE CIRCUMSPECT IN THEIR NEEDS AND OFFERINGS…SHAME IT WAS SO POOR …I WAS RATHER LOOKING FORWARD TO IT
I guess it’s no longer fabulous to be gay on its own, where as earlier years it was considered ‘out there’ and cutting edge.
My husband and I live in a remote country town in Nth West NSW and are out, he is the shire mayor and a member of the local fire brigade, I am a farmer and along with numerous other gay and lesbian couples both young and old are accepted in the broad community to the point where you’d need to find a new hussle if you wanted to be controversial.and upset the local CWA ladies.
A massive decline in numbers attending the MG parade and events was inevitable, unfortunately for SGLMG it is the result of many of us having a desire eventually to melt into society and be accepted for who we are and being gay is only a small part of that. The battles fought the war now won as stated in your article.
Sydney G&L Mardi Gras still is relevant and has a required presence however it’ll take more than just being a homosexual event to be a draw card as it’s no longer outrageous in itself.
Well done, Chloe. This is a fine piece of writing and an important topic to explore right now.
I just wished this story ran for another 6 pars or so to explore in more detail the final par – why (or how) does MG need to continue on for future generations?
I have never seen such apathy towards MG as this year, with the cost of living crisis making many turn away from the big parties and with the damage done to the MG ‘brand’ in recent years by delivering pretty woeful After Parade parties that are a world away from the brilliant – and way less costly – celebrations of years gone by. I will never pay $249 for a small party in the Hordern and a couple of other venues. But then, I am older now and the party is not for me – but I also know very few younger people willing to pay that price for what is delivered.
I didn’t attend Mardi Gras this year as I was nervous for my safety because of the pro-Palestine protestors from Pride-in-Protest. I also didn’t attend any events (usually I try and catch/see at least 6-10 events per year)
After the disgusting treatment I experienced in 2020 I vowed never to go near a MG event ever again. Perhaps the community has finally had a gutfull of being served an underrated after party events.
The Mardi Gras Parade has become boring! It doesn’t know what it is anymore. It’s full of marches who don’t seem to me to represent what used to be a community. It’s too woke, trying so hard not to offend anyone under the alphabet umbrella which has become a dumping ground for anyone not heterosexual.
It’s events are trying too hard to outdo each other and becoming so expensive with over the top extravaganza’s that most people (financially) choose to attend fewer events.
Time to retire it.
No matter what the current generations think about Mardi Gras(MG), it will survive. Yes, post the 2002 Gay Games there was a ‘slump’ in the market putting financial pressure on MG but the great thing about our community is that we keep growing and constantly evolving. The financial situation always needs close scrutiny, but there’s another generation of queers & allies who want to feel the love, joy & outrageous moments that we expect during MG Festival events & parties. How does MG survive, because we still have homophobes in our society, we still have prejudice and even if we are economically capable of buying tickets to parties, we have an obligation to the next generation to keep the organisation afloat, it’s a rallying point (for people not living in the inner city).
I have been part of the evolution of Mardi Gras & have a love/hate relationship with it, like a lot of my friends. But I know that it supports smaller community organisations that rely on the financial support that MG gives them. I also know that many of my friends have the priviledge situation of working with in volunteer positions for many years, and they are the unsung workers you will probably never know about. It’s also an insitution that somehow manages, once a year to bring thousands of queers into Sydney to celebrate their lives in the Xmess parade that continues to exist. (not in Uganda, Not in Russia).
This year was different, especially post World Pride, perhaps the Bondi Beach event should have been cancelled……but so many people really enjoyed it… It was a definite shame Fair Day got cancelled, but it will happen again next year, and perhaps a strategy to hold a mid year event could be put together…..(suggestion).
We have gained the right to have marriage equality through persistent campaigns & protests….MG may not look like the Radical protest parades of the past but it’s still an avenue for PROTEST!!! Don’t forget we lost thousands of creative individuals during the Aids epidemic and we still have many amazing HIV+ve individuals in our community. Remember them.
Be a positive change, not constantly complaining & whinging. Of course, I am not complaining as I had the great opportunity to exhibit my photographic work in the National Art School during the Festival…..my contribution to the Festival events. (with the support of NAS). And Paul Sauvage & Anne Maree C. also put together an exhibition of community photographers with support from the Black Dog Insitute, which highlighted their efforts to have those difficult discussions around depression & mental illness.
But if you only wanted to party, show off your body get fucked then there are plenty of opportunities for that too…
This year the lesbians had a great time at the ULTRAVIOLET party, produced in association with MG & even though it had to end at 11pm, it was fantastic. Times have changed & so have venues.,
Try to imagine what it would be like without Mardi Gras……or that you are in Uganda….
Thanks Mardi Gras for what you do, and I’ll look forward to what you bring to us next year.
C.Moore Hardy xx
It’s really simple to understand to me…. ticket prices remained outrageously expensive at same levels with World Pride (which tourists said were crazy expensive at that time) but the talent offering this year was less so not the same bang for your buck. We are in a cost of living crisis with high inflation in past 2 years so MG should have factored in that in their planning and forecasting. Festivals are cancelling. Affordability is a big thing so MG needs to scale their festival according to the times and be mindful of economic conditions present that impact demand. Where was there financial management and flexibility? Of course we are still paying off and coming down from World Pride too last year which was fun and a big effort so we naturally feel a bit deflated to party at the same levels this year emotionally.
It’s such a shame, but it is fixable. There was a similar crisis back in around 2006 and I volunteered for the party committee at the time after being disappointed and disillusioned by a lot of the decisions I saw being made by Mardi Gras regarding the upcoming festival. To their credit, they welcomed me aboard and took up a lot of the (radical at the time) suggestions I made, which proved successful in terms of selling tickets and changing up a few traditions that I thought had become stale and boring. We also actively advertised in a targeted manner towards sections of the heterosexual community and made some smart decisions around ticket pricing and sales strategy. It seems that there is a lack of vision and creativity creeping into Mardi Gras again. The ticket prices this year were over the top and didn’t represent value for money for such a small party in terms of footprint. This one offered the fewest bangs for the most bucks, and that will never work. I plan to volunteer again for the 2025 festival and see if I can help in any way. Finally, I think the awful business with the murders of the gay couple by the police officer, along with the complete mess that Mardi Gras made of the business with the police Mardi Gras float, the prospect of protesters disrupting the parade over the war in Gaza, and the possibility of related terrorist activity all had an impact on attendance. However, I believe the main problems are the ones mentioned above first.
As someone who absolutely loves the nightlife and enjoys meeting up with friends, I am saddened by the slow downward evolution of the gay scene in Sydney. It’s not our community’s fault. Lockdown laws, noise control, and massive renovation works on Oxford Street, along with timed parking restrictions in the area, have taken their toll on us over the years, leaving us exhausted. With the gradual erosion of a central gathering place, we simply don’t go out like we used to.
The biggest irony lies in the fact that during Mardi Gras, pop-up bars are everywhere, music fills the air, and restrictions are temporarily eased. It’s a vibrant show for visitors, but it feels like a slap in the face for our community. We know all too well that this festive atmosphere will vanish within days, leaving us back in the realm of dreary and limited fun. As we wait for another Mardi Gras in silence, our interest in going out and reveling in joy diminishes altogether
I didn’t attend the main party after years of poorly run events and a sudden price hike – it went into not worth it territory!
I’m a volunteer and was at the parade yes numbers were down from last year ( world pride/mardi gras) but everyone seemed to have a great time .
If the queer community want these events to continue we need to support
“Star Observer reached out for comment, but Mardi Gras did not respond to requests for comment at time of publishing”
I think that line at the bottom of this article says it all. The utter arrogance of “our” community organisation failing (or likely refusing) to respond to a question from “our” community newspaper.
Everything is broken
The problem is headline acts where meh, ticket prices too expensive and tbh transport, cost of living + other issues are causing a perfect storm. Mardi gras board need to work with the NSW government and city of Sydney to work on a more inclusive events. A lot of events where held where wheelchair accessibility is near impossible and expensive. Fair day is and was the only fee free event where everyone can come and not spend an exorbitant amount
Thank you for your response! If you have any specific questions, topics, or areas of interest you’d like to discuss, feel free to share them. Whether it’s about technology, science, literature, or any other subject, I’m here to provide information and assistance. Just let me know how I can help you further, and I’ll do my best to assist you!
Thank you for your response! If you have any specific questions, topics, or areas of interest you’d like to discuss, feel free to share them. Whether it’s about technology, science, literature, or any other subject, I’m here to provide information and assistance. Just let me know how I can help you further, and I’ll do my best to assist you!
Thank you for your response! If you have any specific questions, topics, or areas of interest you’d like to discuss, feel free to share them. Whether it’s about technology, science, literature, or any other subject, I’m here to provide information and assistance. Just let me know how I can help you further, and I’ll do my best to assist you!
I acknowledge the issues mentioned in the article but have have felt for a long time that the increasing parking problems caused by the City of Sydney (Clover Moore) have a significant impact on attendance at the Parade although there is plenty of parking adacent to the party. I dont feel that public transport addresses this issue as there is still a component of homophobic behaviour attracted to the Parade and I wouldn’t feel safe travelling to or from the Parade by public transport. Over many years I was a Parade volunteer manning the barriers. The behaviour of the crowd over that timr became worse not better and the last time I volunteered I vowed never again after a group of girls on the wrong side of the barrier tried to turn it into a harassment issues when I ordered them back behind the barrier. I also feel that the current state of Oxfored Street from Hyde Park to Taylor Square has become a very unattractive area to hang out. I agree that cost is probably a significant issue for non attendance at the Party in the post Covid economy.