WITH ongoing uncertainty over lockdowns and possible restrictions on travel affecting visitors and entrants, the King Valley Arts Committee has decided to cancel this year's King Valley Art Show.

The decision was made this week after the committee had finalised its sponsors and was preparing to distribute entry forms for the 2021 event which was to be held on the Melbourne Cup weekend.

KVA secretary Michael Ashby said it was frustrating and disappointing and while they waited as long as they could for an announcement on restrictions, the uncertainty was just too great.

He said the event was a major logistical exercise involving hundreds of participating artists and requiring considerable planning, which made it difficult to cancel at short notice.

"We could get to the point where artists are delivering their work the week before the show and then get another lockdown – and it would be so hard for us to deal with," he said.

"We had to make a decision this week and we all agreed that we simply weren't confident we could do it."

Mr Ashby said while there had been talk about loosening restrictions over the last week, in the end the timelines began to get too tight.

He said the art show also attracts a lot of people from Melbourne and New South Wales and if it were to go ahead in some form they may still lose considerable patronage.

The committee is now considering holding some smaller scale arts events early in the new year to give local artists something to work towards and also help support local businesses.

The KVA did manage to hold a Pop–Up exhibition in July which began online and eventually moved into the exhibition space at King River Brewing, but even that was cut short by the latest lockdown.

Further updates on events will be made available at www.kingvalleyarts.com.au.