RESURRECTION of the Longford Revival Festival is "highly unlikely", an Octagon executive said yesterday.
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The festival, a throwback to Longford's racing heydays from 1953 to 1968, received $140,000 from Events Tasmania in 2011 and 2012 with the promise of a return gathering for last year.
The company cancelled the 2013 event and announced plans for a biannual festival to launch this month - that too was scrapped in January.
Octagon Asia Pacific president Sean Nicholls said that although a decision had not been made, he doubted the Longford Revival Festival would return any time soon.
"No, we haven't made a definitive decision, but I would suggest it is unlikely we will be holding it again," Mr Nicholls said.
"I think we had a very loyal fan base, we had 4000 to 5000 people each year to the event, we had great reviews from participants and the competitors.
"We wanted to bring the festival to life and we wanted to run that event, but in the end it wasn't the commercial success that we would have liked."
He said the company's appetite for growing racing events diminished when it sold its motorsports business late last year.
Mr Nicholls said the sale did not affect Octagon's ability to insure the racing event, but drained previously available resources and expertise. "We didn't operate at a loss, the events made money, but they didn't make enough money for us," he said.
The business still owned the rights, infrastructure and IT content for the Longford Revival Festival.