A new generation of past queens and princesses, and a committee with more young blood in it, is set to drive the way forward for what is one of the wonderful human faces of our country music festival.

The Tamworth Sister City committee, a group set up by, and under the umbrella of, the community groups that operate out of Tamworth Regional Council, was this week  revealed as the new organiser of the festival’s Queen quest.

It’s a stroke of great luck that the council committee, a stalwart community group that’s been around for years and until recently led with tremendous commitment and loyalty by the former city councillor and teacher John Green, has, like the veritable white knight on a stallion, come to the rescue of the Queens.

The Northern Daily Leader, a sponsor for many years and a true champion of the civic value of the Queens quest, had no hesitation in kicking in $6000 to help run next year’s quest. 

We would encourage businesses and other city groups to consider kicking into the sponsorship can too, and if not through that channel, at least by encouraging an entrant or signing up to sponsor an entrant. Great value for money in anyone’s corporate balance book.

The Queens are a terrific endorsement for Tamworth and the festival; it’s an ambassadorial program that has carried the Country Music Capital flag proudly and most importantly so positively.

The announcement the Queens will continue to reign is a feather in the 

Sister City’s committee cap. It is, according to mayor Col Murray, the council, and the chamber and its president Tim Coates, a great match. A good fit. A perfect partnership.

The chamber is putting $3000 in this year too, and the council will provide some physical resources through its corporate structure. 

The new Sister City boss, former council executive officer Tony McCann, is no stranger to this new deal and has been involved in many ways with the Queens when they operated under the council banner a few years ago.

Everyone admits it does require a lot of work but there is a very real attitude of “we can do this”, especially with committee secretary Amy Walker committed to leading a new subcommittee that includes present and past queens and princesses.

That feminine zeal, coupled as it is with some on-the-ground and practical experience in such royal events, marries the traditional aims and work of the ambassadorial Sister City program itself.

Long may the Queens reign.