“I’m still buzzing, it was lovely. We’ve had such beautiful feedback,” Wingham Akoostik Music Festival organiser Donna Ballard said about the 2017 festival.
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“When I was driving in Sunday morning after Russell Morris played his song The Real Thing on Saturday night, I thought wow, that festival last night felt like the real thing,” she said.
“We’ve now got a festival that’s a proper festival – it feels like it can stand up with other festivals as one that would really attract people as a proper festival. We’ve nailed it.”
Nearly 5000 people poured through the gates from Friday through to Sunday – a 20 per cent growth on 2016 and a 47 per cent growth on 2015 – and Donna and Kevin Ballard put it all down to the volunteers.
“We had an incredible team that freed Kevin and I up to a certain extent. We couldn’t have done it without those guys - no way in the world.”
Wingham High School students, who helped out as part of their event studies, came in for high praise from the organisers as well.
“They were really kids that could work in a team together. Any task we gave them they were super responsive. It felt like you were just waving a wand and they went off and did it!” Donna said.
We’ve now got a festival that’s a proper festival - it feels like it can stand up with other festivals as one that would really attract people as a proper festival.
- Donna Ballard
Two other people instrumental in making the 2017 festival a success were artists Bill Chambers and Dom Turner. Bill Chambers has been a regular for many years, and this year got up to play with various other artists over the weekend.
Dom Turner played at Akoostik in 2015 and 2016 with Rob Hirst as the Backsliders. As Rob was busy touring with Midnight Oil this year, Dom brought along another of his projects, the Turner Brown Band, a collaboration between himself and Nikki D. Brown from the USA, who proved to be very popular with the crowd.
“Dom and Bill have been really assistive and helping us to develop. Dom and Bill have made this year’s festival so special,” Donna said.
“It’s important to give those guys a good experience so that they do feel that they want to be involved again.”
Headline acts the Eurogliders, Russell Morris and Kasey Chambers were a huge hit, with Russell Morris coming in for special mention.
Merilyn Armstrong commented, “My hubby was very impressed. Russell Morris was mature, professional and fantastic! Couldn't believe his calibre at Wingham. Thank you, organisers, job well done!”
It would seem the Manning did it’s part in charming the big acts. Kasey Chambers stayed at Mansfield on the Manning near Tinonee, and posted a video to facebook extolling her delight at her surroundings.
Wingham was also popular with Nikki D. Brown, Dom Turner’s collaborator with the Turner Brown Band.
The band turned up at Bent on Food for breakfast on Monday morning and an impromptu performance broke out, with the gospel singers improvising a tune, singing “we got a new home, over in Wingham”.
“It’s nice when people like that, that go everywhere, feel so comfortable and say nice things about our area. They can’t believe the beauty of the place,” Donna said.
The partial shade installation created by Milk Crate Events in Sydney, as well as the relocation of the bar down to the oval, pulled the crowds down to the oval to spend the weekend nearer the stages, and these proved to be a popular move.
The shade installation also did double duty as a rain protector – depending on where you positioned your chairs.
Although Saturday started off wet, the rain largely cleared by the time the music started, and prospects of more rain did not keep the punters away.
Akoostik looks to be even bigger and better than last year, as recently they secured a grant to grow in 2018.