Mother Julie Carlisle said the fight was motivated by drunkenness, blaming stallholders for not serving alcohol responsibly.

“We were totally shocked and absolutely disgusted with what was going on,” she said.

“We thought that a rural city would have been quieter and safer, but it just looked like a paradise of drunks.”

The brawl broke out at about 6pm on Easter Saturday, and did not stop until police arrived to disperse the crowds.

Mrs Carlisle’s four children, between the ages of four and nine, were in tears, and now don’t want to move to Griffith.

“I don’t want to bring my kids up in an area like that,” she said.

Mrs Carlisle also accused the wine stalls of selling alcohol to people who were already drunk.

“What happened to the control of alcohol? Why weren’t they told no more? We saw what looked like underage kids drinking wine from the bottles,” she said.

Council events co-ordinator Shannon Co-llins argued La Festa was still a family event. “The La Festa committee takes this very seriously,” she said.

“We will discuss this particular issue and see if there’s anything that the committee can do to prevent such things happening in the future.”

Ms Collins said alcohol had stopped being served before the brawl broke out.

“Occasionally these things happen, and it happened to take place this year. In no way is La Festa based around alcohol.”

With no witnesses coming forth, police are yet to press any charges against anybody involved in the brawl.

Mrs Carlisle believes the police and security guard presence was not good enough.

“The police were very late in turning up to stop this brawl,” she said.

“So much for the policy of making the streets safe for all to walk.”