Try telling that to the singers who have been displaying their talents in Beechworth all week through a series of concerts that culminated in Saturday night’s Opera in the Alps.

Or the musicians who have just finished more than a week of rehearsals and performances at the long-running Harrietville Music Camp.

And of course there’s all the basketball and tennis players who have been slogging it out this month on the Border at the Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup, the Margaret Court Cup and the Victorian Junior Grasscourt Championships.

Christmas may be just a memory and school still remains a little way off, but there’s plenty of people not slumbering through this summer.

The Border and North East is blessed to have both a natural environment organisers wish to utilise and venues that make this possible.

This combination helps inject significant dollars into the region’s economy through event tourism.

Opera in the Alps, an annual tradition for 23 years, attracted about 3000 people from near and far to Beechworth golf course.

Former Victorian premier John Brumby was spotted among the crowd who gathered for the popular outdoor performance.

Though the final concert itself might not suit everyone price-wise, the Opera Scholars Australia singers offered free concerts during the week and supported Beechworth businesses.

As soprano Emilia Bertolini observed, “it’s nice to go out for coffee in the morning and run into someone who was at the concert”.

The Harrietville Music Camp wound up its 2019 camp with a Showcase Concert on Saturday afternoon in Bright, which followed a free big band concert the previous night at Harrietville Hotel Motel.

With about 100 participants from almost every Australian state and territory, the camp also brings in plenty of outside visitors, and crucially dollars, to the North East.

Not wanting to blow our own trumpet, but the popularity of our region with musicians seems to hit the right note.