There will be Windsong, the free Friday afternoon concert that will open the Festival, featuring local and international performers, dancers, puppetry, massed choirs, bells and conch shells.

The Festival will close with a music performance especially devised for Four Winds by The Black Arm Band presenting music of contemporary indigenous experience.

Between these the fun quotient will be ratcheted up with dramatic flamenco at Fiesta!, a performance piece called The Resonant Village featuring standard percussion instruments combined with highly unconventional sound-making devices and then a romp through cinematic sound effects and classic film soundtracks on late Saturday afternoon, Sounds Cinematic.

It is the excitement and sheer exuberance of the programming and the performances that make the Four Winds Festival one of the most dynamic and least predictable of music festivals.

The 2008 Festival was one of the five national finalists for the Limelight award for best festival in Australia – alongside major (and much bigger) events such as the Adelaide Festival and the Sydney International Piano Competition.

And this is all happening on our doorstep – no long drives on holiday highways, no check-ins at airports – just down the road from Bermagui in a grassy, natural amphitheatre surrounded by spotted gums.

You can bring a picnic or you can pre-order from a range of locally made lunch boxes.

There will be coffee, tea and goodies from the local patisserie as well as local wines and Wapengo oysters for sale.

Children can be booked in for on-site child-care with qualified carers for young children and programs for older children.

So for those of you who haven’t sampled any of what the Four Winds Festival has offered in the past, look up the website and see what excites you and promise yourself a weekend of beauty and delight that is indulgent, enjoyable and stimulating in equal measure.

For those of you who have had wonderful experiences at previous festivals buy your tickets now so you don’t miss out –each Festival has its own distinctive flavour and tone.

The 2010 Four Winds Festival will be held over the Easter long weekend, April 2 to 4, and tickets can be bought on-line at www.fourwinds.com.au, in person from The Pineapple House, Bermagui or at the gate on the day.