The town is hosting Tussock Country, New Zealand’s country music festival.
The festival started last night with Flock Up Friday at Traffers Bar and will continue today with events including a line dance social, Top Paddock and a Country Legends concert.
Bayleys Tussock Country event co-ordinator Annabel Roy said Flock Up Friday was a prequel to Top Paddock and was designed to welcome people to the town.
‘‘It was a social fun night out where potentially some new friendships were formed."
Australian country music band Southbound xo would headline Top Paddock with support from entertainers including southerners Lachie Hayes and Arun O’Connor.
She expected about 600 to attend the concert and tickets were still available.
The Tussock Country Ute Muster would be held at the Southern Field Days site at Waimumu tomorrow.
The festival was not held in 2022 because of Covid-19 and the number of events in the inaugural 2021 festival had increased from 40 to 61 this year.
‘‘We’ve used the time to plan."
One event she was excited about was the farm and mai mai tour next week, which was a fundraiser for Te Tipua School.
‘‘It’s the chance to get rural and city together."
The festival would conclude on June 4 with the New Zealand Gold Guitars senior finals.
Gold Guitars convener Phil Geary said there were 708 entries in the event, which was the fourth highest ever.
‘‘Anything over 700 is a big event for us."
Competitors were organised into four age groups and within each group there were different genres including gospel and country rock.
Auditions would be held from Friday to Sunday to find the finalists for each group.
The junior and intermediate finals would be held on Saturday and the senior and classic finals would be held on Sunday.
