The inaugural Gippsland Country Music Festival kicked off this past weekend at Mossvale Park in Berry’s Creek to a capacity crowd. The festival, 150km from Melbourne, in the heart of South Gippsland, featured an enviable line-up with Lee Kernaghan, Brad Cox, Casey Barnes, Felicity Urquhart, Andrew Swift, The Davidson Brothers to name a few. The weather may have provided a little drizzle, but that didn’t stop music fans from having a blast and celebrating all things great about live music.
For co-organiser Aidan McLaren, the day was everything he and the team at Red Hill Entertainment could have hoped for, and more. “It was an absolutely amazing day,” he said. “To sell out the event so far in advance was really exciting, but then to actually have all those amazing artists performing on one day, to such a passionate, friendly and enthusiastic crowd of music lovers was something really special. To be honest, there were times where I felt it was quite surreal. It’s been so long for so many people to be at a concert or festival together, sharing the joy of live music and community that you kind of had to pinch yourself that it was really happening. There is nothing like live music and the connection between an audience and an artist, a band, a performance, and to see and feel that again, was something that I don’t think any of us will ever take for granted.”
The Gippsland Country Music Festival was more than just music as well, it was a full entertainment event. There were whip-cracking demonstrations, line dancing classes, rides, market stalls and a host of delicious Gippsland food and drinks including Smokehouse BBQ, food trucks and onsite bars.
Aidan said the response from those attending was fantastic. “The positive feedback was immense, and we couldn’t be happier,” he said. “From punters to artists, to crew to the local CFA and farmers, across the board it’s been wonderful and we’re already excited to start planning for next year. There really hasn’t been something like this event in Gippsland before and we’re so thankful for the way it’s been received with open arms. A personal highlight from me was how respectful the crowd were and how much they looked after each other, and the Park.”
Already the organisers are working out plans for the 2022 Gippsland Country Music Festival. “We’re already talking to a bunch of acts for next year, so we’re looking forward to getting some of those locked in and revealing details about that in the coming months,” Aidan said. “We’ll also be sending out a survey to everyone who attended this year to get their feedback on how we can improve the event in the future, and get some insight on how they’d love to see it develop, and of course, who they’d love to see come and perform. So please, everyone keep your eye out for that. Also, we’ll be sharing a whole lot of photos and videos and memories of the inaugural Gippsland Country Music Festival across socials in the coming days and weeks, so that people can relive the good times there!”
For more information, please visit www.gippslandcountrymusicfestival.com
