Another year down and Bendigo Blues and Roots Music Festival director Colin Thompson can hardly believed how far the event has come.
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Since its inception in 2011, the number of venues this year – 50 – has almost tripled, but the core values of the festival remain.
“It’s just been trouble-free, music-enthused good times, I think the whole town is pretty happy right now,” he said on Sunday, with a hoarse voice beginning to show the strain of a busy weekend.
More pictures: Sun shines on big crowd for Blues and Roots Festival 2017
“It has gone great, everywhere I've been the venues were all packed.”
Shows at the Capital and Ulumbarra Theatres may not have sold out, but those venues were nevertheless pleased with how their shows panned out, he said.
Around 270 volunteers – throughout the year and on festival weekend – worked alongside a core group of 25 individuals who put a year-round effort into making the event a success, Mr Thompson said.
The future?
The festival this year crowdfunded for the first time to clear a debt of $18,000 from the 2016 event.
“We've come too far to quit that's for sure,” Mr Thompson said.
“We've got a team that's getting stronger and stronger, who want to make the festival sustainable and to keep giving it to central Victoria.”
