A NEW group managing the next three installments of the Horsham Country Music Festival wants to grow the event with the help of surrounding towns.
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Horsham Mayor Mark Radford said Horsham Country Music Festival Inc formed on Friday and was seeking three residents to join the committee.
"The existing group, Horsham Country Music Incorporated, will continue and they will still do the smaller events around the RSL," he said.
"We're hoping people who have an interest in the festival might consider being on the committee. We are looking for someone to assist with the secretary role, but other than that the main qualification is people have an interest in the festival around the Wimmera."
A total of 3535 people attended the latest festival in March - billed as the last ever - across four days.
Cr Radford said the group's aim was to increase these numbers.
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"Already questions are being asked of where else, beyond Horsham, can we accommodate the people who come to the festival with their motorhomes and caravans," he said.
"There are opportunities for our nearby neighbours to benefit from this as well - like Dadswells Bridge, Natimuk and Murtoa, to a certain extent, can help with the accommodation side of it. Ideas like that will be among the challenges and opportunities for the new members of the association to work together on."
Cr Radford said the recruitment process for a part-time event co-ordinator had begun.
"The role will be $28 an hour plus extra benefits for phone use and travel," he said.
"The idea is for the co-ordinator to learn how the festival is run off the existing committee in the first year, and eventually we hire them back for the next two festivals so they're doing it all by the 2022 event."
Cr Radford said people interested in joining the committee could attend a public meeting at Horsham Sports and Community Club on Tuesday, July 23 from 7.30pm.
Lyall Wheaton, who has volunteered as the festival's event co-ordinator for the past 12 years, said the part-time paid role would reduce the workload of new committee members compared to that of previous years.
"It's important we continue it as a traditional country music festival," he said.
"We have, right now, a traditional festival which has appealed to people in their 60s, 70s and 80s and it's important the festival continues to cater for that group into the future.
"We have already selected artists for the 2020 festival, so preparations for that are progressing satisfactorily, and I've heard accommodation bookings in Horsham for that weekend are already very good."
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