For me, looking down the barrel to retirement and others who are enjoying the life of a grey nomad, events such as the
Crookwell Country Weekend is a perfect way to see different parts of Australia while also attending festive events with live music and exciting activities.
Photo courtesy of Crookwell Country Weekend
The Crookwell Country Weekend is a massive Regional Festival, which engulfs the whole town and area over two full days. Located in the
Southern Tablelands of New South Wales in the
Upper Lachlan Shire, Crookwell is a district renowned for potato farming. Originally the town was named Kiama but was renamed
Crookwell in the 1860s after its river.
As you can imagine, an event of this magnitude would attract many visitors from all over Australia, so registering and booking ahead is imperative to secure the site or camp you desire. Gates open to the festival campsites on Friday afternoon at 4.30pm with unpowered and powered camping including swag, tent, caravan/motorhome or glamping options. Campers can book two nights or one depending on their preferences and availability with prices starting at $65.00 per site. Pricing and Options are found on the Website.
The following gives you an idea of what to expect over the weekend and what is available to investigate in this lovely town.
FRIDAY 17 March 2023Friday nights are the lively pubs and cafes offering delicious food, live music and perhaps the traditional meat raffle. Also as an opener for the festival weekend, the town's famous Ensemble & Co, which is a collective of boutique traders host a fashion parade for $20.00 entry fee. This is held in the grand Arcadia building and the entry price includes a welcoming glass of bubbles and nibbles.
SATURDAY, MARCH 18 - Day 1 Commences at 9.00am and entry is FREE for all!
What to see –
Shops, boutiques and café's open for business and tables scattered along Main and Spring Streets lined with some of Australia's best buskers who will be performing throughout the morning as part of the Festival's busker competition. First place is a cash price of $3,000 and a runner-up prize of a two-day recording package at the Old Binda Recording Studio in Crookwell. The latter is worth a total of $1,600 with accommodation included.
Photo courtesy of Crookwell Country Weekend
The
Hume Conservatorium is giving a prize for the talented juniors, which will also include a recording session and an opportunity to perform in one of their performances.
Streets are closed to traffic and a fantastic street parade commences at 10.00am with a display of vintage cars, motorcycles, community floats and performers. They move along Goulburn and Colyer Streets to Roberts Street.
No one can go further than paying homage to the iconic UTE! Owners come from far and wide across Australia to compete in this Beaut Ute Competition. Showcasing their four-wheeled beauties could win someone $1,000 with runner-up prizes as well. Judging for this auspicious competition is at 11.30am in Goulburn to Robertson Streets.
The daytime competition will be judged by panel of three well-known people – Singer/Songwriter
Catherine Britt, Geoff Bell from
Laing Entertainment and Roger Corbett, the General Manager of the
Australian Country Music Academy. Roger is also a board member of the Country Music Association of Australia and a founding member of the iconic Australian bush band – The
Bushwackers.
While in town, do not forget to pop into
Lindner Socks who are a small family business using their forebears' three hundred-year-old technique to expertly knit and hand-finish each sock in store. Only the highest quality Merino wool is used and sourced from local farmers. Stay around to witness Andrew Lindner using the vintage machinery, which is brought to Australia from Germany by his parents, Wilfred and Gisela.
Plenty of Food Trucks (Photo courtesy of Crookwell Country Weekend)
Gates to the Crookwell Showgrounds open at 12:30 pm just in time for lunch and a drink before wandering around the merchandise stands. Bring your chairs or picnic blankets and get a good spot to see the live music shows and fireworks later in the night.
Our country's best artists will commence performing at 2.30pm and continue onto 10.30pm. These include the coolest daddy of them all,
Ross Wilson,
Shannon Noll,
Isaiah Firebrace, the iconic Catherine Britt, our best-loved bush band, The Bushwackers and rising country music star,
Brittany Maggs. As well as a fifteen-minute performance of pyrotechnics, flames and amazing visual imaging of our Australian Outback synchronised to the live music of Top End Artists
eMDee.
Ticket prices are $75 for adults, $50 for seniors and concession card holds and $25 for under 18s. Group bookings of four adults can attend for $63.75 per ticket. To book tickets to this event, please go to trybooking.com
Photo courtesy of Crookwell Country Weekend
of the festival being held at the Crookwell Showgrounds with a family-packed colourful country fair in celebration of Australian Rural Life. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children under 17 years.
Gates open on Sunday at 9.00am and there will be plenty of food trucks, merchandise stands, and the Stockade Bar stocked for your enjoyment. Entertainment will include market stalls, jugglers, acrobats, stilt walkers and bushrangers mingling through the crowds while the children can have their photographs taken with Heffner the Alpaca and Charlie the Brahman. There will also be pioneer working demonstrations, bullock and camel teams, Rural Fire Services fire trucks and vintage machinery displays.
Photo courtesy of Crookwell Country Weekend
The main stage will come alive with a rotating schedule of entertainment from previous night's concert acts The Bushwackers and eMDee. Get the kids to pop down to the Visitor Information Centre around 10.30am where Isaiah Firebrace will be signing copies of his best-selling children's book "Come Together: Things Every Aussie Kid Should Know About The First People's". Copies of the book will be available to purchase on the day.
The busking finalists will be judged on the main stage at 11:30am and the winner and runner-up decided upon by 12:30pm.
There is so much happening for young and old at the
Crookwell Country Weekend that you will be sorry if you miss it. For more information please call 02 4832 1888 or email info@visitupperlachlan.com.au
