Last week Southern Dragways announced the cancellation of its Thunder Sunday drag race, partly due to not being allowed its usual BYO policy.
The event has been held at the Alexandra Airport for 10 years and attracted thousands of spectators on the first Sunday of the Alexandra Blossom Festival.
It is organised by the Southland club and Kidsfirst Terrace Kindergarten in Alexandra as a fundraiser for both.
Liam Donnelly, who helped organise the event on behalf of the kindergarten, said the drag racing club indicated it still wanted to pursue the event.
``They're thinking of having it in November, instead. So the event's not a dead duck yet.''
It would be a "dry'' event, he said.
Police initially opposed the Omakau races' liquor licence, as the event allowed BYO alcohol, but that opposition was dropped last week.
Mr Donnelly said he had not given much thought to the similarity of the cases, but said ``they're very different events''.
He hoped holding the event outside of the blossom festival would not affect the crowd size too much.
``It might a little bit. But the dragways guys seem to think a lot of people come up especially for it.''
Dragways vice-president Shane Smith said the club had ``never given up'' on the event.
The group was waiting on a response from the Central Otago District Council, which owns the land, for permission to hold the event later in the year.
If a date was secured, the event would only go ahead if public support was strong enough, he said.
``We'll put a message out on our Facebook page and stuff and gauge the reaction.''
There was not enough time to organise the event for the blossom festival, he said.
Festival chairwoman Clair Higginson said Thunder Sunday was a ``really good event over the years'', but there would be plenty in the 60th jubilee celebrations to take its place.
``The thing that I'm the most interested in with what's going to happen over the two or three days is entertaining the former queens. It's going to be great for them, but also for us to get that sense of inter-generational connection.''
Many events came and went over the festival's history, she said.
``They are seasonal. It's probably one of the reasons for its longevity. It's one of the things that keeps people interested in it.''
An online petition, targeted at the Central Otago District Council calling for the return of Thunder Sunday, had gathered 340 signatures yesterday.
