Festival Report for 2009 Festival2009 - A Red Hot Festival... Once again it was all hands on deck for community groups and volunteers – no-one missed out: the CFA manned the entrance to the Tarrangower Reserve and numerous local clubs conducted fundraisers. The footy ground was home to more than 90 campsites and Tarrangower Reserve campers were spread far and wide throughout the surrounding bushland. The Tarrangower Wine Tent featuring local wines and the Guinness Tent were packed for Friday night’s performances and this set a pattern that would continue throughout the weekend. From the very first gig every venue and workshop was filled to capacity, including the churches and Dance venue. Saturday dawned bright and as the temperature climbed, so did the numbers of muso’s and visitors with every entrance to town and every side street parking space filled. The Primary School Market drew a huge crowd and business was booming at the Athenaeum Library Book Sale. The crowd continued to swell and by Saturday night weekend ticket sales were well up and Sunday day ticket sales were almost double the previous year. Three panels of five judges took weeks to process the record entries for the prestigious Roddy Read Memorial Songwriting Contest and with only half an hour to go, aspiring songwriters were still queuing to enter the Maldon Minstrel Award. Visitors were also well up on last year to the Instrument Makers Exhibition at the Vintage Machinery Museum. A lot of things came together to make it such a success with quite a few changes this year. The weather, the new website and online ticket sales facility, the family ticket, a stronger security presence – all contributed to a relaxed and thoroughly enjoyable weekend. Festival Feedback‘Thanks for having us at Maldon again and congratulations on another great festival - it was great to be back. We really had a great festival.’ ‘On behalf of 'The Bostocks' we just wanted to thank you and the commitee for a great festival! We had an awesome time! All the crew and staff were very professional and it was a pleasure being part of it.’ ‘The Maldon festival is a great place to build relationships with people who like the music you play. I think that's one of the really special things about festivals like Maldon, the fact that musicians are there for the duration and audiences and players get to mix more than at a usual gig. A really lovely atmosphere with like minded souls which doesn't happen at all festivals I've played at, so that's a very positive thing I reckon and you must be fostering that somehow with the way you run things. All in all a job well done and hats off to you and your team.’ ‘Thanks again for inviting us to Maldon — we enjoyed ourselves immensely. You have a great little festival. Congratulations. I will certainly be spreading the word in my dual role as muso/journo (The Australian and Rhythms Magazine). I'm glad we were able to show our appreciation by stepping into the breach on Saturday night. The techs in the Guinness Tent went out of their way to give us good sound, and the crowd responded accordingly (we got some wonderful feedback backstage after the gig, and even sold a few CDs). We also enjoyed our Sunday arvo spot in the amphitheatre — great setting. Thank you for not charging commission on CD sales — it makes a refreshing change. We were also impressed with the affordability and quality of the food on offer at you festival— not to mention the Kilkenny, Guinness and fine wines, all of which were quaffed in some quantity by our band (well, we had to do our bit, didn't we?). Congratulations to all once again on another great festival. Lots of good things, and great atmosphere as ever. Thanks so much for programming me at the wonderful Penny School, I had great gigs, especially Monday morning, which was a ripper. ‘I just wanted to tell you what a fantastic time I had at the festival. Maldon is absolutely beautiful, the town and Tarrangower, probably too beautiful, as it was too easy to just sit in the campsite and not utilise all the music. Still managed to catch heaps of bands though. The reaction to The Go Set was fantastic and it was very noticeable how many people who saw them on the Friday then came to the gigs on the Saturday and, again, the Sunday. Also, around the camp and in town following gigs I would walk past people and hear "The Go Set" not managing to eavesdrop too much of the conversation, but constantly heard their name mentioned in conversation. When I saw the venue on Sunday, I actually thought maybe it had been misprogrammed as nearly everyone there was sitting down, just having finished tea. A seated Go Set audience isn't typical. Well, a couple of songs in most of the crowd were up and dancing. Thanks for a fantastically run festival, facilities were great; cleaners were fantastic in toilets and showers; and I can, with no hesitation, say it was the best festival I have ever attended. I hope you had a chance to enjoy it and it ran as smoothly for you as it appeared to us. Thanks heaps for the opportunity.’ ‘We had a great time! The performances went as I hoped. I roped in many more players to augment the group although we had 21 Newport regulars anyway. It enabled me to give many more people a chance to perform and I have to say the sound was amazing. The format of the concerts could not have been better and the venues were perfect. The rotunda is a great acoustic venue for our type of ensemble and the Woodfull Pavilion accommodated The Gay Charmers and us perfectly. Your support has helped me and the Newport Folk and Fiddle Club make the Bush Orchestra run successfully. We need to make them feel like performers and give them an external reason to play and this Festival was just perfect.... so thanks!’ ‘Thanks for a great festival – it had such a good atmosphere with so much music in the streets this year. And thanks heaps for programming us to play in the Penny School – what a gorgeous venue that is! It was such a pleasure to be in there – for both listening and performing.’ ‘Thanks for a great festival! In particular, thanks for organising the uke venue for us - the Library Hall was great and it was full too! Our accommodation was just sensational. Always mean to tell you too that the blurbs on Mike in the Maldon FF programs are always about the best Mike gets anywhere! Not sure if you write them or not – but they are excellent!! Well done !!’ |
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