ORDINARILY, trying to set up a music festival while it’s intermittently bucketing down rain might be a stressful ordeal.
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That said, if you'd spotted the organisers assembling the various tents and stages on Thursday afternoon, you wouldn’t have gotten that impression at all.
In fact, James Eggleston thinks the rain this week has made life a bit easier – the softer ground makes banging the countless tent poles into the ground a fair bit easier.
What is also helping is that this year's festival more of a known quantity, and their excitement to bring it back is driving them to make Saturday’s event bigger and better.
“It's been good actually, last year was a bit of an unknown, we kind of just got down here and started putting stuff together,” Eggleston said.
“It’s a bit more structured, but this year we have the excitement of knowing what’s coming on Saturday.
“We believed it was going to be a success, but it was always going to be a risk last year.
“That’s been much easier this year, know that we built up a fanbase who know what to expect this year.”
While the rain was bucketing down on Thursday, you couldn’t ask for a better forecast for Saturday’s festival – 24 degrees, mostly sunny, with a few clouds.
Willowbank, where the festival is held, is the perfect place for a festival on the Border, Eggleston said.
“The Northern Folk played a set down here about three years ago with 250 people, and that’s when we first got the idea,” he said.
“We realised a bigger event here would be something that we could do.
“It’s six minutes away from central Albury, but it feels like you;re in the middle of nowhere.
“You can’t see any houses, you can’t see the highway, it does feel like you’re a long way from town and you get that privacy and intimacy.
“You see the flags in the way in and start wondering what to expect, what you’re going to see.”
A truly extensive bill has been planned for the indie-folk festival, heavily influenced by bands The Northern Folk have heard or been able to play alongside at other festivals.
Eggleston said By the Banks was about introducing people to bands and artists they might not have thought to discover, as well as providing an audience for musicians they thought ought to have a wider audience.
“We're giving these guys a crowd essentially, people came not knowing a lot of the acts last year, and we think they'll be blown away by the quality this year as well.”
THE LOWDOWN
What: By The Banks Festival
When: Saturday Nov 24, Tix $65, $45 for 13-17yrs
