Help Us Build a Wonderful Festival!

The Bangalow BBQ & Bluegrass Festival is really just an excuse to have a great big outdoor party! Don’t you just look at those Showgrounds and wish we had more music and food and family fun days?

But because our local community has a small population (not like a big city) it’s virtually impossible for any commercial event to make good. So this Festival is a not-for-profit community event that will only be a success when Volunteers make it happen!

We hope you’ll join us and help out with the party. It’s all for a great cause!

Our Cause – Arts in the Community

Most people in our community don’t realise how poorly funded is the Arts in this area, let alone the massive systemic issue that is the gap in funding Arts in our local schools.

We live in one of the most creative and imaginative regions in Australia – our country’s most creative musicians, painters and artists flock here – yet there are so few opportunities for these artists to showcase their work. Let’s not mince words: We regard the artists and creativity of this region as a national treasure!

So our objective is to raise funds to help support Arts & Cultural initiatives in our community. In short, we’re going to help fix the problems we can easily influence to help facilitate and promote arts in our community.

And don’t get us started about Arts funding in schools! Did you know that in some primary schools in the area in-class funding for Teachers (from which most arts supplies come) is as little as $10 per child … for the whole year!

It’s almost shameful, and we’re seriously wondering why more people aren’t shouting about this severe oversight. Really, how are we supposed to stimulate our children’s imagination (and teach them to think) if we don’t have materials for them to imagine and create with?

It’s a fundamental, and it’s been overlooked. The sad fact is, in most cases the teachers themselves (and some on the ball parents) are spending their own money on additional resources. Surely we can do better?

How you can help

Organising a Festival is really just like organising a backyard barbie … only just a lot bigger! We have a great line up of music all set, and we’ll have more BBQ and select catering than you can poke a stick at! But we will need a lot of help pulling together other practical parts on the day. So we’d love it if you would register your interest in Volunteering.

As a Volunteer you’ll be on a station for 3hrs, and outside of that we’ll ask you to act as a host and ambassador for our paying guests and visiting musicians.

Our sole aim is that everyone visiting from outside of the area is simply blown away by the bright, cheery community spirit and will overwhelmingly go home and tell all their friends what a great day out it was!

In short, we want this to be the Best Little Festival in Australia! And we’d love your help to make that happen.

What we’ll need on the day

• Salad Team – Prepping and serving salads and sides for up to 1000 people, all using local fresh produce from our best farmers!
• Decorations & Pretties – The Showgrounds stand for themselves, but we would like to add some creative flair! Bunting and hay bales a must,
• Ticketing Team – Scanning tickets, selling tickets at the gate, putting on wrist bands,
• Greeting Team – Big smiles, greetings and welcomes for all our VIPs and out of town guests,
• Parking Team – Directing some 400 vehicles that will be parking on the grounds that day,
• Traffic Management – Signs and directions on the streets, as well as manning an Artists & VIPs entrance gate,
• Security & Crowd Control – Smile, be friendly, point out the bathrooms, look for lost kids – generally that kind of  very helpful thing – and help keep a lid on larrakins (“No D**kheads Policy”).
• Clean Up & Set Right – During the day, helping pickup litter to keep a clean oval plus managing waste bins. At the end of the day helping break down decorations, stow hay bales, picking up the ovals and leaving the Showgrounds as pristine as we find it.

What you’ll get in return

On top of a Festival Pass, you’ll experience…

1. Incredible satisfaction – we’re doing some genuine good here!
2. Heaps of fun with other great people – our “No Bulls**t” policy (in the country, that’s a technical term) is a subset of the “No D**kheads” policy! We’re all here for laughs and a good time. There’s no positioning, no status, no jockeying. There’s just good food and great music,
3. A musical lineup to die for – we’ve pulled some of the best musicians from all over Australia,
4. Your children will learn by your example what “community” is really all about, (and you get a genuine excuse for a day off Saturday sport!)
5. You’ll see a direct impact on your local school’s Arts funding – a doubling or tripling of some schools in-class resources budget!

If this sounds like something you’re interested in, register your interest in Volunteering.

Now get your school involved

Once you’ve registered to Volunteer, go straight to your school’s P&C  and principal to encourage them to get involved with a Kids Games Stall.

All games are just $2 (family friendly) and all the revenue from the Kids Games goes straight back to the local schools with a commitment to supporting the Arts programs. The schools with the most creative games will make the most money, and the best stalls will be taking home $1000 or more straight to their school.

Learn more about the Kids Games Stalls and Schools Registration now, and forward the link to those who can make something happen.