IT WAS an honest and upfront discussion at the Tamworth Community Centre on Monday night, as residents let organisers know what they really thought of this year’s Tamworth Country Music Festival.
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Labelled as not one of the biggest, but one of the best yet by Tamworth Regional Council, it was the public’s turn to offer feedback on the ten-day event.
Among the hot topics were accommodation price hikes, options to encourage more people to the northern end of Peel St and attracting international acts to the city along with securing the festival’s future.
Festival manager Barry Harley spoke of council’s hopes for the future in the lead up to the 50th event and a change of tact in marketing the festival to areas outside of the city.
With official survey results in, almost 55 per cent of interstate survey submissions were from Queenslanders, and there was also an increase in Sydney guests.
Mr Harley said while the festival fell outside of the Queensland school holiday period for the first time in five years, visitor numbers from the sunshine state had increased by one per cent from 2016.
More than 43,000 festival goers piled in to Bicentennial Park for the nightly, free concerts and events, with 41,000 taking advantage of the Fan Zone concerts in Fitzroy St.
Local musician Caroline Morris asked what was needed to entice acts from America to the event but also emphasised the importance of the festival maintaining its heritage.
Mr Harley said there was a ‘limited’ budget to import those acts but hinted council was making moves to secure acts for the 50th event.
One local punter was concerned accommodation providers were hiking up their prices for the ten-days with reports one couple were charged upwards of $600 for a two-night stay.
Another resident spoke of rubbish at the end of the festival with broken camping equipment and overflowing rubbish littering the sporting fields and suggested skip bins were needed.
Council said it would take the opinions of residents on board.