CONCERNS over how the Tamworth Country Music Festival would fare in April have well and truly been put to bed, with the city exploding into life throughout the week and in particular over the weekend.
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Given the shorter length and different time of the year, it was never going to be quite the same as in January, but it has still been an outrageous success.
Tamworth Regional Council mayor Russell Webb said it exceeded his expectations, and he was glad the decision was made to delay the event.
"It was absolutely fantastic, the numbers were a lot better than what I personally expected, and I think the feel from the crowds that we had that come to visit our city and visit the region, was great," he said.
"Everybody seemed to be really enjoying themselves and they really took in the sights and took in the music, and I think the general consensus was April was a great time."
That thought was shared by The Courthouse Hotel second in charge Alana Dickinson, who said it was a massive weekend for them and other pubs and clubs in town.
She said it was clear to see people had got over the COVID hesitancy that was still around in January.
"The weekend has been absolutely massive, we've had over 500 people in the venue form 12pm onwards, everyone is coming out and having a great time enjoying the festival and the live music, the atmosphere has been fantastic," she said.
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"It's really good to see everyone out and about, and that's been fantastic as well in mending all of our issues with COVID as well and kind of getting back to a form of normal."
She said it has been a slightly different crowd to January as far as demographics go, but their thirst for live music was the same.
"Everyone has really enjoyed the live music, it's been great to have a constant line up for the week rather than just have a few bands mixed sporadically over the weekend, which has happened for us since December."
TCMF manager Barry Harley said he was also happy with how the week panned out.
He knew it was never going to be as big as normal, but was impressed with the turnout and vibe throughout the festival.
"I'm absolutely ecstatic on behalf of both the community and the industry because of the numbers of visitors that did turn out to support the festival," he said.
"We always knew that transferring from January to April wouldn't replicate January, and we were a little unsure about how many people would make the change, but the tens of thousands of people that actually have made the change have made it worth the while."
He said there were even some things that went better than they normally do, pointing to the fact the merchandise store had to shut on Thursday night because it was sold out, which has never happened before.
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