The council’s decision, on Monday night, came on the back of an appeal from Horsham and District Racing Club to move a previously delegated Melbourne Cup holiday to the local meeting. 

In its application for change, the racing club had cited declining patronage at its biggest meeting of the year. This came on the back of a Racing Victoria scheduling clash forcing the Horsham Cup to move to a Friday meet in 2014 – well out of the control of our local race club. 

At Monday’s meeting, Crs David Grimble, John Robinson, Josh Koenig and Alethea Sedgman said moving the public holiday to back a local event could provide flow-on opportunities to boost the city’s economy and tourism across the weekend. 

Mayor Pam Clarke and Cr Mark Radford aired concerns that a public holiday on a Friday could have a detrimental impact on what is typically the busiest day of the week. 

Mail-Times readers have strongly taken to social media to share their views. It appears our community is also divided on when the municipality should take the holiday that the Victorian government declares is a local government scheduling decision. 

The Mail-Times strongly supports a focus on community – indeed it is the core of our business. We also support – and encourage – the right to freedom of speech. 

When the council opened feedback on a possible change to the public holiday, it promoted ways people could have a say. One of these was an online survey. 

The council is copping flak for, what readers say, is “ignoring” the views of those who participated in the survey. Almost 30 per cent of people voted for the holiday to be on Horsham Cup day, however the majority of votes, 36.8 per cent, were in favour of keeping the holiday on Melbourne Cup day.

It was disappointing to learn the council received only 500 responses from a municipality of about 20,000 residents. That’s a relatively poor take-up of what has become a hotly debated issue. We have to ask, did those with the loudest voice ensure they shared their views when it mattered most? 

Wimmera events should always get our support – or they could be lost forever. It’s now up to all of us to make the best of this decision moving forward. 

Jessica Grimble, editor