Vinyl passion celebrated at fair

MUSIC lovers from far and wide came together last Sunday for the Bendigo Record Fair at the All Seasons Resort Hotel.

Organiser Peter Pascoe said the event was a glowing success, with over 20,000 records on offer.

“We have a capacity of 150 for COVID reasons and we actually hit capacity at 10.30am,” he said.

“Pretty much 10.30am to lunchtime we had a line-up of people waiting to get in, so I’m very happy with the turn out.

“Most people have walked out with a nice swag of records and have been very happy with what they’ve found.”

Punk, pop and the golden oldies vinyls were all available for music lovers to peruse and purchase from 18 dealers spread out over 27 tables.

“They’re coming from all over Victoria, and we’ve got a couple that drove down from NSW,” Mr Pascoe said.

Record merchant Robert MacManus from Melbourne Backline Hire in Brunswick said it was great to be a part of the fair.

“It’s great for Bendigo to have something like this in the region,” he said.

Mr Pascoe said it was good to see different demographics coming together to celebrate vinyl and its ongoing resurgence.

“There’s the older people like myself that have always been collecting, there’s younger kids today that are discovering vinyl for the first time, there’s people that are rediscovering vinyl,” he said.

“If you’ve got the equipment and you’ve got the ear for it, there’s a depth of sound that comes from a record that you just can’t emulate.”

Mr Pascoe also organises pop culture festival Bendi-Con, featuring cosplay contests, fan groups and workshops, which is scheduled for later this year.