Just over 460 buskers had registered for the Tamworth Country Music Festival up to 4:30pm Tuesday January 19 – and Tamworth mayor James Treloar is encouraging every one of them to line up for a special vice-regal appearance Wednesday.
The Governor-General Quentin Bryce is the latest celebrity festival visitor and the Queen’s representative and her husband Michael will do the Peel Street crawl along Buskers Boulevard from 10:00am.
The vice regal party will walk the walk to get a personal feel for one of the festival’s favourite events but as mayor Treloar says, buskers are often sleepyheads in the laid back summer days of Tamworth.
“So, I’d be encouraging our buskers to get out on the street a bit earlier so they can show the Governor-General the special magic of busking in the street in Tamworth,” councilor Treloar said.
“We would like Her Excellency to see just what makes us world famous and to see the friendly festival first hand.”
It is the first visit to Tamworth and the festival for Ms Bryce and comes after she made the special presentation as the patron of the Keep Australia Beautiful organization to Tamworth in May last year of the national Tidy Towns award.
“I’m extremely pleased to have Their Excellencies visit and to have the opportunity to show them the city and its people and for them to experience the hospitality that is so evident during the festival,” Councillor Treloar said.
“I think the vice-regal visit for the Tamworth Country Music Festival signifies just how iconic an event it has become in Australia.”
The Governor-General arrived in Tamworth Tuesday evening and will spend nearly two days getting a first hand look and feel for the festival, including a walk down the famous Buskers Boulevard, a visit and presentation of national finals awards to some of the country’s top littlest cowboys and cowgirls, and taking in a couple of concerts and gigs including a special indigenous workshop performance by the Gomeroi Dancers.
The first public appearance on the vice regal tour is at the Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre for the ABCRA’s National Finals junior rodeo from 7:00pm Tuesday January 19.
A civic reception is being held on Wednesday evening but the remainder of the visit is informal festival fun.