A Fresh Start
What do you do if you’re a festival venue in a pandemic? You keep your chin up and look for a way through!
2020 was destined to be the 16th year of Dashville’s biggest calendar event, The Gum Ball Music and Arts Festival. With three days of music and over 30 artists from around Australia and overseas, it was all ready to roll when it came to a sudden grinding halt due to the pandemic.
Like many businesses dealing with forced closure, it was no doubt a challenging time for the regional events business. Fortunately, the team at Dashville are no slouches and have worked hard to survive. Postponing Gum Ball and Thrashville to 2021, cancelling Dashville Skyline in 2020, adapting and creating new viable ways of operating, including the creation of an exciting Dashville Weddings and Elopements service were all part of 2020 for the team.
Ambitiously Dashville pioneered a series of open-air concerts in August, creating a unique Aussie style ‘party pen’ formula with star pickets and bunting which inspired the UK’s scaffold version.
In early October through heavy uncertainty, they hosted ‘Sky Ball’ a successful COVID-safe concert series as a tribute to the cancelled Gum Ball and Skyline festivals. The ‘party pens’ were once again in full force across the large outdoor arena. The online portion Sky Ball TV streamed over 30 individual concerts featuring a wealth of regional New South Wales artists.
Now as we near the end of a curveball year, Dashville have put together a rather attractive three-day New Year escape known as A Fresh Start. This family-friendly, three-day escape of musical recreation and leisurely relaxation kicks off 31 December 2020 and rolls through 1–2 January 2021.
With three evenings of live music planned accompanied by onsite bush camping and a range of COVID-safe daily activities for the whole family, it’s looking like A Fresh Start will be precisely what the doctor ordered! Tickets are now on sale, with artists announcement coming soon!
More info about this and other up and coming events can be found via the Dashville website at www.dashville.com.au
