NAROOMA is gearing up for its biggest event of the year this weekend with the arrival of thousands for the Great Southern Blues Festival.
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But festival founder and organiser Neil Mumme is warning that attendance and visitor numbers are looking to be down this year.
It appears a double whammy of uncertainty relating to terrorism and an uncertain economic climate in Canberra is having an impact on whether people are deciding to make the journey down to Narooma and the blues festival.
“I contacted five of our regulars from Canberra and asked them why they are not coming,” Mumme said.
“One was going to the wedding but the other four said they were worried about their jobs.”
Canberra residents were facing uncertainty given the Federal Government’s promised cuts to public service.
And this could have wider ramifications for not only the festival but general tourism this Christmas holidays, he said.
Festival organisers also noticed interest in tickets sales and general enquiries seemed to drop off after the recent counter-terrorism raids and news of home-grown terrorism threats.
“We’re still going to deliver a great festival but these things are out of our control,” he said.
But the festival must go on and the big top tents have already gone up on Bill Smyth Oval as work by the organisers is reaching fever pitch.
The success of “Ferny’s Juke Joint” last year will be repeated with this third stage happening again and located next to the equally popular food stall of local chef Michael Stokes.
Despite the fears, almost 80 per cent of tickets have been sold and the event will boast a line-up of 40 national and international artists.
On another positive note, the weather is shaping up to be fine for the weekend with sunshine and light winds forecast.
Rugby league fans will not be left hanging as the Rabbits Bulldogs game will be shown on the big screen.
The Great Southern Blues Festival kicks off at Smyth Oval this Friday and runs to Sunday at 10.30pm.
Single day, weekend packages and junior tickets are still on sale.
For full information, pricing and purchase, head to www.bluesfestival.tv or call 4476 4848.
The Narooma News also has its Blues Festival hub page featuring all our recent stories as well as social media comments and posts.
Remember to use the hashtag #NaroomaBluesFestival on your posts to have them show up on the websites.
The Narooma News and festival organisers in the next couple of days will announcing the winners of the three double passes to Saturday, and thanks to everyone who sent in photos of themselves getting their mojo on!
Telstra Road to Discovery at the Blues
Six aspiring and original songwriters from New South Wales have been selected to perform at the Narooma heat for Telstra Road to Discovery, the talent development program dedicated to providing aspiring Australian musicians with a guided pathway into the music industry.
Since 2003, Telstra Road to Discovery has given budding artists the opportunity to develop their craft through mentoring sessions, advice and support from leading music industry professionals.
The Narooma heat will be held at the Great Southern Blues Festival from 1.30pm to 3pm on Sunday and will also feature a live performance by Helen Shanahan, winner of Telstra Road to Discovery in 2013.
One of the six hopefuls this year will be Connor Ross, 18, who is a multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter from Cobargo.
Live performance is at the core of Connor’s musical identity.
In June he released his debut self-produced single ‘The Mildew’ on Triple J Unearthed, which reached #6 on the ‘Roots’ Chart, as well as #9 on the Unearthed High Competition Chart.