The huge attendances at the inaugural Festival of Outback Skies in the Queensland town of Hughenden have underlined once again just how much pent-up demand there is for well-organised regional events.
After several years of Covid-caused cancellations, the calendars are once again full of country shows and the like … and grey nomads are loving it.
Around-Australia traveller Jane Wolfe, from the Sunshine Coast, told the ABC that she timed her stop in Hughenden last weekend to coincide with the festival.
She said she had particularly enjoyed the sunsets and sunrises, getting up early to take photos of the horizon from Mount Walker.
Birdsville's hugely successful Big Red Bash show just how big of a drawcard regional events can be. PIC: Matt Williams
“It was very soft colours as we started to drive up, and then the colours were very intense,” Ms Wolfe said. “It’s like there is absolutely nothing penning you in … you can look anywhere and see the horizon, the scenery, the bush, the sky.”
The new event in the north-west of the state wanted to make the vast horizons and brilliant vistas of the Outback its focus, and the town – with a population of just over 1,000 – drew visitors from across the country to enjoy a mix of stunning views and outback hospitality.
Organisers say 2,000 people came to the opening night, far exceeding the 500 or so that had been expected.
Mayor Jane McNamara told the ABC that Hughenden had not had a festival on this scale since the Dinosaur Festival, which last ran around 15 years ago.
“Everybody is sort of on the festival trail and we wanted something that was a little bit different,” she said.
Ms McNamara said that by blending traditional events with arts and craft workshops, sightseeing, glamping and quirky events such as a raft race, organisers hoped to attract a wide variety of people to the town using the vast horizons and skies as a selling point.
“There’s all these beautiful cirrus clouds,” she said. “When it’s blue, it is the most intense blue, and when there’s clouds, it is just a painting all of its own.”
Flinders Shire Deputy Mayor Clancy Middleton told the ABC it had taken months of hard work to put the festival together, and that he ‘never dreamed’ attendance would be so strong.
“Getting back to our western ways we had – with rodeo and stuff like that – is terrific,” he said.
Cr Middleton said he could see a great future for the festival, with Hughenden becoming a drawcard.
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We’ve included Music in the Mulga again in our travels. We had such a great time there last year and then camped at Thargomindah the next week for the Shearers Shindig.
Plus a group of us attended Big Red Bash at Birdsville in 2018.
We don’t, this is why we go away to avoid crowd’s, as it is hard to get accomadation, plus, prices go up as well.