Jessica Micallef
Celebrate the return of live music at the Macedon Ranges Music Festival.
The festival, held next month, will feature a string of local musicians along with food trucks and children’s activities.
Festival founder and director Jimmy O’Hare said the event was a great day for all ages.
“We have two stages, one is the main stage and then we have a youth stage competition as well,” he said.
“We get young musicians perform in a competition and the winner gets a place on next year’s main stage.
“We also have lots of local food stalls and trucks, we have a full bar stocked with Hanging Rock wine and gin by Mountain Distillery, and there are plenty of kids activities.”
This year marks the festival’s ninth year. Mr O’Hare said the event had come a long way since the first festival in 2013.
“My family did a trip to Cambodia and we came back from that wanting to work with the Cambodia Kids Foundation who are based in Woodend,” he said.
“We wanted to raise money for them. My family and I are big fans of music. The first few events were in my dad’s backyard.”
Up to 1000 people can attend the festival due to COVID restrictions on public gatherings.
Money from the ticket sales goes directly to the Cambodia Kids Foundation.
“We are trying to get our community to support our local artists as well after a tough year in the industry that’s been hit hard and is only starting to make a comeback,” Mr O’Hare said.
The festival is on Saturday, March 13 at Gisborne Steam Park, 1-10pm.
Tickets and details: macedonrangesmusicfestival.org/
