Country music fest draws thousands
Marton the heart of country for three days
The 2021 Marton Country Music Festival attracted about 3000 visitors to Sir James Wilson Memorial Park at the weekend. Organiser John de Burgh said it was a great three-day event, which began with impromptu performances as guests began to arrive on Thursday.
A busking competition held in Marton’s main street was won by Kaye Roskam, from Paeroa, and Robin Durban, from Te Aroha.
“They were the standout performers amongst some other great talent,” de Burgh said.
“The judges were incognito, so the performers were not aware when they were being appraised.”
Roskam and Durban also performed at the festival along with some of New Zealand’s most-loved country music artists.
The line-up included New Zealand’s foremost yodeller Roger Tibbs, a previous winner of the Tamworth country music festival Gold Guitar award in Australia. He has also performed at the famous Calgary Stampede in Canada.
Headliners were NZ Golden Guitar winners Jaydin Shingleton and
Ainslie Allen, along with Marian Burns, Carylann, Kylie Austin, Rene´e Strawbridge, Reg McTaggart, Joy Adams and Monty Gibbins.
Duo Legal Tender (Ian Campbell and Moira Howard) were crowd pleasers, along with the band Hired Gunz.
And there was young talent on show as Ngarangi and Terina Sadlier, from Wainuiomata, took the stage along with 14-year-old Jackson Austin, from Auckland.
Festival-goers were encouraged to scan the Covid-19 QR codes as they arrived at the festival and de Burgh said most were happy to do so.
“We had plenty of hand sanitiser and soap available and people were diligent about using those as well,” he said.
“We had a trouble-free weekend as we always do. The weather was great over the three days and, although the air got quite damp on Saturday night, it didn’t turn into rain.”
A water truck on site meant festival-goers were well hydrated and most made good use of the large rubbish bins to leave the site tidy.