Cooly Rocks On adds ‘70s grunt
THIS year’s Cooly Rocks On will muscle in on the ’70s for the first time as the festival takes a new route.
The popular annual celebration of cars and culture will expand its brief to take in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s when it bumps into Coolangatta from June 6-10.
Presented by Connecting Southern Gold Coast, the free festival will today unveil a series of new initiatives designed to entice more cars, period specific race cars, live music, dance displays, parades, markets and visitors to join the party in the streets, parks and venues of Coolangatta and the Tweed.
The festival’s display of classic cars will be open to vehicles manufactured up to 1978 from this year.
The move will shine a light on machines from the ultimate muscle car era – the Holden Monaro, the XY GT Falcon, the XU1 Torana and the Trans Am – and a new flood of motoring memories from the past 40 years.
The festival will also add a Touring Car Masters display, featuring race cars from an era when household names such as Bond, Moffat and Beachy ruled the mountain at Bathurst. A new Sandman Jamboree will revive a bygone era of beach culture with a Holden Sandman beachside display, longboard surfing competition and live music while Bugs by the Beach will show off some of the best and brightest VWs ever assembled.
Other new attractions include a world first release of restoration and build-ups of custom cars and hot rods.
Connecting Southern Gold Coast general manager of events Matt Cousins said extending the festival’s reach into the ’70s would add a new dimension to the unique beachside gathering.
“You can stay right in the heart of the action, everything is within walking distance and proudly, it is all completely free to attend,” he said.
With Cooly Rocks On unable to use Queen Elizabeth Park this year, the festival will extend its reach around to Jack Evans Boat Harbour.
The park has been seconded as a key venue for April’s Commonwealth Games and won’t be restored in time to be handed back for the festival.
While the closure will force Cooly Rocks On to rock around the block to accommodate a live entertainment stage, kids carnival, feature markets and food vendors, organisers say the facilities will remain within walking distance.
This year’s festival will see four main stages serve up rock’n’roll, swing and rockabilly acts from the 1950s to the ’70s with roving entertainers throughout the precinct and a new open-air cinema screening cult classics from the 1960s and ’70s
Details on car entries, vendor applications and expressions of interest from entertainers will be posted on the event website and Facebook page.
Visit coolyrockson.com
YOU CAN STAY RIGHT IN THE HEART OF THE ACTION AND PROUDLY, IT IS ALL COMPLETELY FREE.