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Saturday, January 22, 2011

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:



After the Cavalcade, we headed down to Hands of Fame Park to watch the 2011 inductees preserve their palms in concrete for posterity.  Here's Bruce McCumstie, a performer well known for his tribute performances to Willie Nelson.  We saw Bruce play at the Roll of Renown Concert, where he sang the songs of Johnny Ashcroft, Stan Coster and Reg Lindsay:

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