It also marked the start of two weeks of logistical nightmares for the parents of many competitors and, most galling of all, two weeks of forking out $8 every time mum and dad want to see their little darling's two minutes of fame.

Because if anything was ever going to take the gloss off what is a wonderful community event, then it's the high admission prices that will do it.

Parents and grandparents will happily pay a few dollars to see their child on stage at the eisteddfod, but $8 a session seems pretty steep.

Sure, day tickets are available for $18 and season tickets for $50, but they don't meet the needs of the vast majority of audience members.

For its part, the Bathurst Eisteddfod Society will point to the high price of hiring BMEC as the reason for the high admission prices. And it may well be justified in that claim.

The problem is, secrecy surrounding the eisteddfod's financials means that no one outside of council and the eisteddfod society is in a position to judge the merits of that claim.

What is well-known is that Bathurst Regional Council has scaled back its financial support of the eisteddfod over the past two years to the tune of about $15,000 annually.

But whenever support for the eisteddfod has been discussed in council it has been behind closed doors, despite the formal protests of this newspaper.

On each occasion, the reason given for confidentiality in council has been the fact that the discussions would involve the eisteddfod society's financial situation which, apparently, cannot be made public even when they're seeking public funds.

Most Bathurst people would be happy to pay what it takes to keep the eisteddfod afloat if only they had some way of knowing what was a truly fair price.