Fong Lee's Lane festival in Wellington cancelled due to wet weather

The Wellington Arts committee said having to cancel the "special and unique" event "after months of planning and creating the hype" is a "huge disappointment" to the whole team and community.

"It's a hollow feeling to have after months of preparations and hype, to now deliver nothing on Friday, it had better bloody pour with rain," the committee said in a statement to Facebook.

"With impending thunderstorms forecast we cannot expect attendance to be great."

"Food vendors need power and this means running cords in wet weather which is not a great option. Nobody will sit down to eat even if they did patronise the food vendors, so there is no point having entertainment of any sort during thunderstorms."

This is the third year the beloved event has had to be cancelled - with the 2020 and 2021 events called off due to COVID-19 related restrictions.

In the two years the event ran, it saw thousands of people passing through the laneway which was once home to a bustling Chinese store at the heart of Wellington's economy.

"It was one of the meccas of the town's economy and one of the business hubs of Wellington in the early years. That's where all the transactions and big sales of produce and merchandise happened - it's got a lot of history," Wellington Arts president Lisa Thomas.

"When some researchers started looking into Chinese history around Orange, everything led back to Wellington. All the Chinese migration - even into Sydney - was centred around what was happening in Wellington."

A celebration of Wellington's multicultural community, Fong Lee's Lane includes food vendors from around the world as well as live entertainment.

Ms Thomas said it wasn't possible to postpone the festival to a later date due to potential clashes with other events the group is planning and moving it to another location would defeat its purpose.

"It's about the lane, Fong Lee's Lane, and we can't shift it to another venue," she said.

The Fong Lee's Lane festival isn't the only event on the arts calendar this weekend which has been rained out.

On Thursday, the Dubbo Regional Council also announced the cancellation of the DREAM Festival's lantern parade which was scheduled to go ahead on Saturday.

"The decision to cancel the DREAM Lanterns has been made after careful consideration of many factors," said Kim Hague, Dubbo Regional Council's Manager Regional Events.

"These include the unpredictability of the weekend's weather; the safety of patrons; potential damage to iconic, signature lanterns; and the financial risk to market vendors due to low patronage or late cancellation."

A sold-out lantern making workshop at Wellington Arts last week saw local kids create lanterns to be used for both Fong Lee's Lane and the lantern parade.

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