The 15th Anniversary celebration of the Deniliquin Ute Muster ended last night with country music superstar, Alan Jackson, capping off two days of music, family, fun and country spirit.
The festivities kicked off on Friday morning when gates opened at 6.00am letting the first of the weekend’s 20,000 attendees onto the site.
“This year’s festival was enormously successful with mother nature turning on beautiful sunny days and balmy nights for us” said Kathie Heyman, Deni Ute Muster General Manager.
“It’s been 15 years since the local community banded together for the first Deni Ute Muster and we’ve gone from strength to strength when a lot of other festival events are struggling to find an audience. It’s a huge honour for community and business to see so many families returning each year to play on the plains”.
“We’d also like to acknowledge our Strategic Partners Destination NSW. Event Partners, Deniliquin Council and Conargo Council. Major sponsors: Holden, Bundaberg Rum, Decentralised Demountables, Country Waste Systems, IGA and our official partners, XXXX Gold, Coates Hire and Viking. We couldn’t continue growing the event without their support and we tip our hats to them all”.
Friday night’s opening concert was headlined by Grinspoon with Sunny Cowgirls, Russell Morris, Adam Brand and Corb Lund getting the crowd up dancing into the night.
Saturday night was headlined by international superstar Alan Jackson who had the crowd in raptures throughout his set, particularly as he sang his hit Where I Come From with vision of the Muster and township splashed on the screen behind him. Also on the line up on the balmy spring night was Kaylee Bell, Morgan Evans and Australia’s favourite country songstress, Kasey Chambers.
The Deni Ute Muster once again broke two of its own world records over the weekend. First up was the World Record Blue Singlet Count with 3,924 musterers donning blue singlets breaking the previous record of 3,500 set in 2010.
And of course it wouldn’t be a ute muster without the utes! 2013 was also a record breaking year with 9,736 utes on sites breaking the previous record set back in 2010.
Alan Hamilton from Townsville (Qld) won Deniliquin Ute Muster Ute of the Year with his Holden Maloo. Bob Waldner from Lavington (NSW) once again walked away with a win in the Holden Barrel Race and also took out the inaugural Driver’s Choice Award as voted by his fellow contestants. The Narva Go to Wo was won by Blair Achammer with his Nissan Navara.
In the driving competitions, The Australian National Circle Work Championships, sponsored by GME, was won by Jason Stanley from Cairns (Qld) who impressed the judges with his Holden VE SS-V and driving performance. Second was Michael Bekins from Emerald (Vic), and third placed was Luke Campbell from Parkes (NSW).
This year’s Holden Grunt Off male team winners, with a time of 9:63, were team Slootz and the female team winners were Can Rouse with a time of 11:97 seconds.