Community
7 March, 2025
Bush festival to draw crowd
SANDFORD’S annual bush music festival draws musicians and artisans – as well as big crowds – from right across the country.
The annual Sandford Festival runs from Friday to Sunday, with a big line-up of talent from all corners of the country to entertain the crowds with bluegrass, rockabilly, country, swing and folk tunes all thrown into the mix.
The weekend also features a line-up of workshops, catering for everyone from learner musicians, who want to figure out how to get the best out of their instruments, to those who want to learn the craft of repairing or tuning their instrument.
The Sandford Rec Reserve will also be packed with food stalls and wares by purveyors of ‘lost crafts’.
“There’ll be guitar stalls, whip crackers, a blacksmith … those lost trades that we don’t really see anymore but are fascinating to watch and produce really beautiful items,” Festival director Chris Langman said.
And with finances tight for many similar events across the country, this year’s Sandford Festival has attracted a stellar line-up to fill the two main stages for the weekend.
“A lot of festivals aren’t showing up this year, I guess with financial pressures, rising insurance costs and just the general cost of living, they’re finding it harder to function each year and we’ve done better with some really good alliances with folk people around the country,” Mr Langman said.
“We’ve got The Royal Hi Jinx back – they’ve become a really popular and regular feature with our guests over recent years and they love coming back here.
“One of the new acts is Johnny Can’t Dance, which is a zydeco style band, Cajun music, dance music with a Louisianna sound with accordion, washboard and the usual guitar line-up, we’ve got Cartwheels, which is a swing type band and Ragged Company, which is a country-rock style band.
“They’re all fantastic acts and they’re all going to be there on the Friday night, as well as the Saturday and Sunday.”
For more information, visit the Festival’s Facebook page or website.
