The Mount Beauty Music Festival has made a successful return with dates already locked in for 2019.
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Saturday’s revival of the event at the Mount Beauty Community Centre was met with a positive response from the community after it folded in 2017.
Committee president Jocelyn Ceccanti said the festival would return to three days next year, taking place from Friday, April 26 to the Sunday.
“We had a full house of 300 people and we had sold a majority of those tickets by 2pm Saturday afternoon,” she said.
“There was a smoking ceremony to start – everything has a cycle and I think the festival needed a rebirth to start fresh and take it from a different angle.
“We also want to have Indigenous artists and culture as we want to embrace that element of this area in the festival.”
Mrs Ceccanti said the committee also hoped to attract new families and younger people.
“The FReeZA event was a collaboration with Alpine Shire and there were 200 to 300 people outside in the afternoon between four and six,” she said.
“Even if they didn’t come into the main event, they were quite happy to be outside with the kids and we want to continue that partnership with the shire.
“The winner, Rex Stringer from Harrietville, will get his own stage next year.”
The festival will again be based out of the community centre with multiple satellite sites including the auditorium and local food venues.
The committee has approached a hotel about being a venue, and is in discussion with a local company to run shuttle buses.
Mrs Ceccanti said the five-member committee had worked hard to revive the event, which couldn’t have gone ahead without sponsors.
“Everyone really enjoyed the vibe, The Northern Folk brought a big fan base, a lot of people that came were visitors, so that was good for the town,” she said.
“We were told we did an amazing job and I think overall we smashed it.
“Thank you to our supports and the local community.”