The 30th Tilba Festival on Easter Saturday is sure to draw a crowd as organisers hope for better weather than experienced at the Narooma Oyster Festival earlier this month.

Also on is the fabulous Four Winds Festival that kicks off on Friday afternoon with the free community concert taking place this year at the Bermagui’s Fishermans Wharf.

On Saturday and Sunday, all the music, food and culture are at the festival site at Barragga Bay where the new Windsong Pavilion will be on show.

More on Four Winds later in this article and also inside on Page 14 is the full festival program.

Also on this weekend are the Montague Arts & Crafts Society exhibitions with the annual Easter Exhibition at Narooma High School officially opened this Friday at 4.30pm.

Now back to the Tilba Festival that this year will have an emphasis on local produce with River Cottage Australia host Paul West opening the festival and a display of local producers in the big hall.

There will also be all the favourites from the cheese rolling to the boot and egg tossing.

There will be buses from Narooma and Bate Street will be closed to traffic all Saturday from 8am to 5pm.

After the theft of the clown mascot from the festival gates last year, the committee has been working on a new cow-shaped mascot that has already been nicknamed “Hyacinth” in honour of its bucket head.

See the full program inside today's Narooma News... or check out  http://www.tilba.com.au/tilbafestival.html

Four Winds a must-see event

The time has flown by and the Four Winds Festival is upon us – kicking off in Bermagui with the free community concert on Friday afternoon at 3pm.

Festival spokesperson Angela Marshall said there was an increasing buzz around the district as festival artists had been arriving since last weekend and some have already been out getting involved in the community.

“The various local and international performers have been arriving, settling in and knuckling down to practise by themselves and with each other as they prepare for the 2104 festival,” she said.

Indigenous performer Shellie Morris arrived last weekend and has been working with talented local indigenous musicians this week preparing the music that will open the festival program out at Barragga Bay on Saturday.

Shellie Morris began work on this project with local indigenous singers and songwriters when she was Artist in Residence back in November last year

Dan Scollay, the wonderfully talented leader of two local choirs, Bermagui’s That Bunch of Singers, whose members come from Potato Point in the north to Quaama in the south, and the Bega Street Choir, has been rehearsing her singers who will add beautiful backing vocals to Shellie’s new song.

They have been polishing their parts and combining their voices out at the Umbarra Cultural Centre and at the Windsong Pavilion this week.

The Arcadia Quintet is a wind ensemble made up of current students from the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) and they held an exciting and inspirational workshop with Bega Valley wind students.

Dejan Lazic, the Croatian pianist who is one of the headline performers this year, has been getting up his practise hours in the homes of local residents around Bermagui as well as rehearsing with Zen Hu, a Chinese violinist, and the Arcadia Quintet.

“It's exciting to have some of the finest international and Australian musicians here on the South Coast of NSW and for them to be interacting with, supporting and inspiring our community,” Angela Marshall said.

The free community concert on Easter Friday takes on a completely new-look and is being held at the Bermagui Fishermen’s Wharf.

School children from Bermagui and Candelo Primary Schools and Bega’s Mumbulla School worked with a professional paper lantern-maker during fourth term last year.

“The children are delighted that we will all see the results of their efforts at the Wharf on Friday evening,” she said.

“This event is being run in close collaboration with the Fishermen’s Wharf and several of the fishermen and other boat-owners have really got behind this event. It is a first for all of us – come and be a part of it!

“And, of course, you can support your local community by supporting the Bermagui Pre-School fund-raising sausage sizzle. You can also bring along your weekend tickets and have your wristband attached to your wrist at the Four Winds stall at the Wharf and dodge any queues over the weekend.”

See the full program inside today's Narooma News... or check out www.fourwinds.com.au/