General News
7 November, 2024
Patchewollock festival celebrates 10 years
A record crowd attended the recent annual Patchewollock Music Festival which celebrated its 10th year of operation.
A record crowd attended the recent annual Patchewollock Music Festival which celebrated its 10th year of operation.
The first festival was held in 2012. A 'sea' of caravans packed onto the former football oval as well as around the town to provide accommodation for the crowd from Thursday October 18 until Sunday October 20.
Around 60mm of rain on the Thursday night did not dampen the action and the following two days featured ideal weather.
As usual the action took place beside the Patchewollock Hotel on an outdoor stage where performances took place from Friday at 4pm until Saturday night.
Sunday’s half day performances took place on the ‘Pub Stage’ where children were entertained throughout the Saturday by the ‘Krazy Koala Puppet Show.
Several market stalls and food stalls added to the atmosphere in the main area and a mini street parade featured four girls of the ‘Oarsome Foursome’ in the 2000 Olympics and two former AFL footballers.
As usual the highlight of the festival was the annual sheep race on Saturday afternoon involving 22 sheep which had been auctioned off to prospective buyers along with one drawn from a raffle.
Seasoned ‘callers’, complete with a bugle player heralding the start of each of the five heats, created the atmosphere and was popular with the crowd creating a lot of hilarity.
An art show by Nhill artist, Gaye Newcombe, at the former Railway Station was also a popular interlude while Saturday night featured the usual Camp Oven meal which attracted an appreciative crowd.
The hotel served continuous meals throughout the weekend and food stalls were also kept busy.
The music at the festival covered a variety of music featuring 14 artists including several semi-local artists, 'Roy and Sarah' who reside in Patchewollock and 'The Parle Brothers and Nicole Matthews' from Mildura.
Donald musicians, including Danny Walsh and Leo Tellefson, performed in the ‘Danny Walsh Banned’.
A poetry session was held on the Saturday morning featuring bush poet Col Driscoll who also acted as MC for the festival. Walk-up poets were also welcomed.
An ecumenical church service took place on the Sunday morning with Rev. Greg Jones and also the music of ‘Rev. Blues’.
The festival was regarded as a great weekend by all those who attended and was made possible by a range of sponsors, including the Yarriambiack Shire.
Contributed by Jenny Taylor