By LIA SPENCER
THERE was a whole lot of strumming coming from the Gemco Players Community Theatre in Emerald on the weekend.
Hundreds flocked to the inaugural ukulele festival on 31 May and 1 June, which featured a range of workshops, concerts, sing-alongs and competitions.
Festival director Matthew Fagan said he was thrilled with the turn-out.
“I think it couldn’t have gone better,” he said.
“We really had a lot of participants of all age groups. There were a lot of people who came wanting to know more about the ukulele.”
Mr Fagan said the ukulele was a great instrument for people to play and was becoming increasingly popular among people of all ages.
It’s a social revolution at the moment. The ukulele is a friend to everyone,” he said.
“People are finding it’s a friendly way to engage with others.”
Besides providing people with loads of entertainment, Mr Fagan said the festival allowed people to network with other musicians from across the country.
“We had teachers from New Zealand and across Australia, we had a lot of Victorian representatives and strong input from our own community in the hills,” he said.
“The festival became a forum for people to network and that’s a really big aim for a live community event like this.”
Mr Fagan said the even would run “in one form or another” next year. “I think it will be biffer. We would like to involve the broader community and go across council boundaries,” he said.
“I want it to be a mountain festival.”
Mr Fagan said the highlight of the festival was the competition.
Sadie Mustoe won a $50 sponsorship from Emerald district Mitre10 co-op in the Under 15 best amateur solo category.
Stephanie White won a $100 voucher sponsored by Bootstraps ‘n’ Buckles Emerald in the best amateur adult open performance category.
Best ukulele songwriter went to Miss Wattle Group who won a Maton concert ukulele sponsored by Maton Australia. Second place went to Bernard who won $100 sponsored by Bootstraps ‘n’ Buckles Emerald.
The best amateur ukulele group went to The Patch Tags who won $150 sponsored by Cockatoo-Gembrook Bendigo Bank.
