11 Aug Calliope River Village Festival Takes To The Stage
After last year’s cancellation, the festival is finally ready to go ahead later this month.
Years of inspiration and planning has led to the inaugural event that will launch on August 20. Jack Viljoen, the organiser of Boyne Valley Country Music Campout and now the Calliope River Village Festival has said that the installment of a festival in Calliope will bring fantastic entertainment to the Gladstone Region.
“After seeing the growth and success of the Boyne Valley Country Music Campout, it got me thinking about another event that would complement the Campout. I thought it would add more cultural flavour to the region, and it was very well received by the Port Curtis Historical Society,” said Jack.
The headlining acts will be Amber Lawrence and Adam Harvey, joined by a fantastic lineup of local talent.
“Part of our aim is to support local artists through facilitating network development, and putting our local up-and-coming artists in the same space as high profile professional artists is the best way of achieving that. We have a spectacular lineup with a great variety of music, as well as a day filled with fun and interesting things for the whole family. We believe in supporting local talent and will do so in the future, as the festival grows.”
The performances will start at 2pm, with nine separate performances to hit the stage. Most of the performers will be local, with the exceptions of Amber and Adam travelling from interstate. One of the biggest highlights of this event is that the entry fee to the event will cover a song-writing workshop with the multiple ‘Golden Guitar’ winner Amber Lawrence. Bookings for this event can be made by contacting jackventertainment@gmail.com.
All tickets for the festival count as an all-day pass, so people are free to come and go as they please. The fun will begin at 10am, with plenty of events available for the whole family to enjoy.
“The festival is about celebrating music, art in all of its forms, crafts, as well as interests and hobbies. We have the Hotrod club displaying some of their machines, various art and craft stalls, information on knife making, a fire twirling workshop and show, model trains, a song writing workshop and a song writer’s showcase. For the kids we have pony rides, train rides, face painting and all sorts of fun activities. We’ll also have dinosaurs from 10am until 2pm.”
Another exciting part of the day’s program will be an open-mic area with a backing band for anyone who wants to sing a song. There will be free, self-contained camping available along the river, as well as plenty of bar and food vendors.
“There are many wonderful and dedicated people involved to make this an annual event that our region can be proud of, and we have to give a special shout-out to the Calliope River Village Volunteers who work so hard and enthusiastically!”
