20 February 2020

'Fills my heart with joy': March music showcase bings village together

| Edwina Mason
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Lusi Austin

Cowra’s Lusi Austin is one of many performers supporting the Rock Till it Rains concert in Greenethorpe next month. Photo: Supplied.

We’ve had fire and rain but farmers in some parts of southern NSW are still praying for the clouds to deliver more.

Some of those live in the tiny hamlet of Greenethorpe, just north of Young, and they’re getting up off their knees and are planning to tap their toes instead.

Greenethorpe’s Soldiers Memorial Hall has become known for events of a musical nature of late and the Rock Till it Rains concert in March is [hopefully] set to bring the heavens down.

“We need a rain dance instead,” Memorial Hall committee spokesperson and organiser Jane Tyrrell said.

But it’s not all about rain; the intention of the Saturday, March 14, event is to give the local community an opportunity to mingle and forget about the drought for a night.

“The Shamrock Hotel, the village’s one central meeting place, had been closed for about 15 months,” Ms Tyrell said. “So there was a lot of feeling of not very much social interaction and isolation and that was something we really wanted to try to reduce.

“I guess we decided that with drought and people being strapped for cash we would try to make it a bit more value-for-money and child friendly.

“And obviously we have all this local music talent we wanted to showcase as well.”

As local as it gets, the line-up includes Greenethorpe’s seventies-inspired rock band Wishful Thinking, Cowra’s blues and soul musician Lusi Austin, country/pop soloist Josie Laver and pop soloist Lisa Flanagan.

Pop rock pub band Weak Cordial and pop/rock duo Axl and Jesse, both of Grenfell, round out the bill alongside emerging artists and students from Young, Grenfell and Cowra high schools.

“There’s something for everyone,” Ms Tyrell said.

The whole community is involved, with Greenethorpe Public School P&C providing the barbecue and the hall committee running a bar.

So far the response has been overwhelming, Ms Tyrell said, with people expected to travel from as far afield as Sydney.

“A month out and more than half the tickets are sold already. Every single day I’m getting emails and it just fills my heart with joy.

“If it’s going to be a success, which it looks like it’s going to be, we might make it an annual event.”

Tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for high school students/pensioners, and children under the age of 12 years are free but are still required to register for a ‘ticket’ to gain entry.

Tickets are available via https://www.trybooking.com/book/event?eid=595723&. or check the details on the facebook page for Greenethorpe Soldiers Memorial Hall Events: https://www.facebook.com/greenethorpesoldiersmemorialhallevents/

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