Sunday January 8, Red Hill Recreation Reserve, Arthur's Seat Road. For a small community, Red Hill, South of Melbourne puts on a big show. The annual Red Hill Country Music Festival turns the area into a place filled with great music, hot rods, utes and line dancing. The festival features performances by popular artists from the area and around the country. The festival has featured many artists including the Sunny Cowgirls, Doug Bruce, Amber Joy Poulton, the Bona Fide Travellers, Tim Farren and many more.
Red Hill, with a population of a little over 1,000 people gets its name from the red clay that has given this area a special agricultural importance since it was first settled by European immigrants in the mid-19th century. Part of the Old World remains to this day so that games like Pétanque are still played and traditional Australian foods like meat pies and jam donuts are sold in shops. Many streets like Sheehan, McIlroy, Arkwell and Callanan are still named after the people who founded the town.
The climate of the Mornington Peninsula where Red Hill is located led to the establishment of vineyards for grapes like pinot noir, When in season; strawberries, chestnuts and apples can be bought at the farm gate. The smell of roasting chestnuts still permeates the air at a community market held every month from September to May.
Artists included in the 2012 Festival include
- Marcus Meier
- Jayne Denham
- Amber Joy Poulton
- Peter Baylor's Roadhouse Romeos
- Roughcut
- ....stay in touch to hear who else is appearing at the festival
Staged at the Red Hill Showgrounds Reserve, the festival also conducts a Young Talent Segment. This part of the festival showcases up-and-coming young singers and bands giving them a chance to break into the country music scene. The festival also gives fans a chance to meet and greet the artists, buy their CDs in the many booths on the festival grounds and just have a general all-around good time with family and friends.
The Red Hill Country Music Festival is a charity event put on by the Mt. Eliza Lions Club with assistance from Lions on the Mornington Peninsula and Frankston area. Organizers of the event have promised free parking space for Hot Rods and Utes and a Wet - weather alternative should it rain. Guests 14 years old and under are admitted free of charge. Proceeds from the festival are donated to health care services in the area.
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