Country music festival will set toes a-tapping

The ballads and toe-tapping dancing beats of the country music genre will again ring out from Motueka’s Marchwood Park this weekend, with the advent of the town’s 15th annual Country Music Festival.

The free event kicks off on Saturday morning at 10am, with the opportunity for walk-ups to demonstrate their talent to what will no doubt be another audience of several hundred country music fans.

Saturday night will showcase the event’s guest artists, Allan Barron and Sharon Russell of Christchurch and Ashburton’s Molly Harrison.  Sunday will give a further opportunity for walk-up performers, supported by the showcase band of Allan Barron, Andrew Fairhall, John Hall and Ross Fenemore.

Organiser Di Fairhall says that anyone is welcome to join in, and performers should bring along their chord sheets for the band.

She says the open-air event was free to enter and attend, with a hat passed around to help cover costs.  Food, coffee and raffle tickets would all be available for purchase. Unpowered campervan parking was available for booking via the Marchwood Park office.

She advised people to bring their own chair or rug to pop on the ground under the shade of the park’s trees.   In the instance of wet weather, the event will move to the Upper Moutere Community Centre, with camping also available there.

Di founded the festival with her late husband John, as the pair were eager to give back to the community that had supported country music for many years.

The festival will be held this Saturday, 11 January, and Sunday, 12 January.