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Pouring rain couldn’t dampen festival goers’ spirit

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Attendees came out in force across the Perricoota wine region for the annual Pop and Pour Festival. Photos: Aidan Briggs.

Despite wet weather, locals and visitors explored Perricoota’s wine region through the Pop and Pour Festival on Saturday, November 30.

For the roughly 2000 attendees, most of whom were visitors to the area, the poor conditions weren’t going to rain on their parade.

Pop and Pour organiser Jacqui Werner highlighted the unexpected positive effect the rain had on the event and how attendees and venues alike banded together to make the festival as fun as possible.

“It was a great event other than the fact everyone was soaking wet, but that didn’t seem to dampen anyone’s spirit which was a bonus,” she said.

Participants sported merch throughout the day. Photo by Aidan Briggs

“If anything, people seemed to rise to it and make the most of the day which changed people’s energies, all the attendees embraced it.

“Everyone seemed to go with the flow a little bit more because the rain impacted it so much, it seemed to make the festival as a whole a lot more fun, energetic and co-operative.

“All the venues and musicians banded together to make the event go ahead and run as smoothly as possible which made for such a great event despite some challenges.”

There were still plenty of people enjoying the festivities into the afternoon. Photo by Aidan Briggs

Pop and Pour treated festival-goers to a look at the beautiful Perricoota wine region through a ‘festival on wheels’.

Attendees could catch buses to any of the five venues at any time throughout the day, creating a unique and customisable experience.

It provides the perfect event for a range of events, from birthdays, early Christmas parties to even bucks and hens nights.

The dancefloor was a popular spot at all of the venues. Photo by Aidan Briggs

The event provides a great platform to showcase Echuca-Moama and surrounding areas to people from all over the country.

Ms Werner said that while the festival’s participation numbers were slightly down this year, that the number of groups and people from out of town in attendance was promising.

“Our numbers were down a little bit; we got roughly 2000 people when we had 2500 attend last year,” she said.

Kelly Nunns, Bree-Anna Barker, Stephanie Turner, Leisa Barry, Beck Barry and Rhys Baxter soaked in the atmosphere. Photo by Aidan Briggs

“There was still plenty happening on the day, we had quite a few big groups, hens’ and bucks’ parties and birthday celebrations.

“It was mostly out-of-towners, which was nice to see, and they made a weekend out of it and booked out local accommodation, which was great.

“All the feedback from venues and attendees was very positive, there were lots of happy faces, and the crew got many good comments.”

Brodie Kelly and Kylie Scilini were all smiles along the Murray River. Photo by Aidan Briggs
Jerah Wilson, Alanna Raper, Faith Butt, Meaghan Douglas, Amber Farley and Sarah Ryan danced the night away. Photo by Aidan Briggs
Belinda Kirkman, Lyndsey Molisak, Sophie Overs and Lisa Kerr made sure they were matching for the day. Photo by Aidan Briggs
Darren Ryan, Mal Palmer, Scott McGauren, Kathy Palmer and Glenis Smith enjoyed their prime position looking on to the Murray River. Photo by Aidan Briggs
Despite early wet weather, the sun made an appearance later in the day, much to the delight of attendees. Photo by Aidan Briggs