Victoria Scores New Country Music Festival

Described as “a celebration of all things country”, Gippsland Country Music Festival is set to make its debut next April.

The Victorian event, organiser by the team behind The Hills Are Alive and NYE On The Hill, will take over Victoria’s Mossvale Park on April 24 with headliner Lee Kernaghan joined by an all-star cast of local favourites including Brad Cox, Casey Barnes, Felicity Urquhart, Andrew Swift, The Davidson Brothers, The Strzelecki Stringbusters and more.

“Up until now there hasn’t really been a dedicated country music festival event in our region,” Red Hill Entertainment’s Aidan McLaren said.

“We’re really excited to be bringing some of the nation’s most-loved acts to Gippsland for what hopefully becomes an annual pilgrimage for a lot of country music-loving people.

“When we first talked about launching the Gippsland Country Music Festival, we bounced around headliner ideas and Lee Kernaghan was straight away at the top of the list.

“He’s created so many amazing albums and songs over such a long period of time, and his live show is just so engaging. To have him playing the inaugural event is really something.

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“Each of the other artists are incredible and we feel together they showcase the diversity and range of talent that exists in the Australian country music scene. As well as much loved legends and rising stars of the country scene, we’re also looking forward to the crowd being blown away by some of Gippsland’s home-grown talent in The Davidson Brothers and The Strzelecki Stringbusters.”

The inaugural Gippsland Country Music Festival will “operate as a COVID-safe event”.

“Operationally this will include a dedicated COVD-safe officer on-site, contact tracing processes, increased hand-sanitiser stations throughout the event, social distancing measures in place, regular sanitization and cleaning of event facilities, regular health reminder messaging and more,” McLaren said.

“If, due to COVID-related restrictions, the event is unable to go ahead as planned, it will be rescheduled for another date later in the year and all tickets will remain valid. In such an event, people requiring a refund will be able to do so.”

For more details, head to the festival’s official website.