UP to 10,000 utes are expected to rumble into Deniliquin today as the town’s record-breaking ute muster gets under way.
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Gates open at 6am with organisers hoping headline act Cold Chisel will help draw a record crowd of more than 20,000 people this year.
Yesterday, event spokeswoman Lou Winter said tickets were flying out the door.
“We’ve got hundreds and hundreds of people coming through constantly buying tickets and merchandise,” she said.
“We’ve already exceeded ticket sales from last year – this is definitely by far our biggest year.”
Deniliquin mayor Brian Mitsch said the town was “absolutely chockers” with hundreds of utes already lined up at the gate yesterday afternoon.
“It’s very hectic,” he said.
“It’s almost like driving in one of the bigger cities – you’ve actually got to contend with some traffic.”
Cr Mitsch said the muster provided a huge boost to the town, with an economic analysis last year estimating it generated about $11 million for the local economy.
It showed on average, each patron spent $463 in the town during the two-day festival.
A further $2.5 million was spent by the patrons getting to Deniliquin.
“And I might add that this would probably be the first time in the history of the muster that we’ve got a really healthy, running river and green grass in all of the paddocks,” Cr Mitsch said.
Organisers want 10,000 vehicles to gather for the world’s largest parade of registered utes and in the process, shatter the record of 7200 set in 2008.
It is also hoped the muster this year can set a new record for the largest gathering of people wearing blue singlets, with the record in 2009 being 2230.
TV personality Grant Denyer will be at the muster early today to broadcast the weather live for Channel 7’s Sunrise program.
Other features include the NSW whipcracking competition, IWA pro wrestling shows, SCARD stunt bike action and the AFL grand final replay between Collingwood and St Kilda on the big screen.
