Have a ball at a small hall

TASMANIANS will have a ball in regional small halls next year, with a national music tour set to return to the state.

Billed as Australia’s largest dedicated regional music tour, the Festival of Small Halls is today announcing its 2019 summer schedule, featuring master Scandinavian musicians Fru Skagerrak and Australian singer-songwriter Liam Gerner.

The tour aims to rekindle the tradition of gathering in the local small hall for a special night of live music, storytelling, and community connection. It takes the best folk and contemporary acoustic artists performing at major Australian festivals, and sends them on the road to halls in communities across Australia.

The summer tour will start in Queensland on January 1 before visiting Stanley, Wynyard, Sulphur Creek, Rowella, Nunamara, Longford, Meander, Cygnet, Triabunna, Forcett, and Southport in Tasmania between January 4 and 17. The tour will then head to NSW for a string of dates before concluding back in Queensland.

The Forcett Community Hall will be hosting a leg of the tour for the first time and president Susan Ransley said she hopes it is packed out for the event.

“We just want to get the community together to enjoy the music and bring back the feeling that the community halls offered years ago, in their heyday,” Mrs Ransley said.