Cavalcades and concrete hands

Today we saw the Country Music Cavalcade, one of the last official events on the festival calendar.  This year's theme was 'Legends of Country Music', so we saw lots of floats that paid tribute to the well-loved stars of country music from both here and abroad.  Thousands of people lined Peel Street to watch a forty-minute procession of pipe bands, hotted-up utes, and blinged-out semi-trailers.  Country music stars, old and new, waved from atop their motorised transport, while locals dressed up to honor their idols and represent their local community.  One highlight for us was seeing 2011 Toyota Star Maker winner, Luke Dickens (remember him from Australian Idol 2008?).  We also liked this float:

Big things, wax things, bronze things

Over the last few days in Tamworth we have visited yet more of the Country Music Capital's historical sites, including the Big Golden Guitar, the Country Music Gallery of Stars Wax Museum, the bronze busts in Bicentennial Park, the Hands of Fame, Lindsay Butler Studio's Wall of Fame and memorabilia collection, and the Australian Country Music Foundation's Country Music Hall of Fame.  We were also very lucky to be invited to the Australian Bush Laureate Awards held at the beautiful Town Hall, where we were seated right next to country music's matriarch, Ms Joy McKean!  Throw in a couple of concerts, a few talks by Australian pioneers of country music, a lot of buskers, and the unveiling ceremony of this year's plaque commemorating this year's inductees into the Roll of Renown (Tommy and Phil Emmanuel), and you could say we have been rather busy...

Tamworth, here we are!

Sarah and Alison are in Tamworth for the 2011 Country Music Festival.

We have already taken in a range of the historical fare on offer in this memorial town to Australia's country music, including the Walk a Country Mile exhibit, the TSA Songmaker Tribute, the Roll of Renown and the Galaxy of Stars at the TREC (the venue where the Country Music Awards will be held later this week), and the Winners' Walkway in the world-famous Peel Street.  We have also attended the opening concert in Bicentennial Park, and the Roll of Renown Concert at the Town Hall, where the 2011 inductees, the Emmanuel Brothers, were announced to a rapt crowd.