Family-friendly music festival returns

A LINE-UP of the region’s top performers is set to light up the stage at the Music in the Valley festival on October 27, promising a day of live music and family-friendly fun.

Byron Bay singer Hayley Grace, western swing and country blues band Way Out West and Australian/Samoan singer, ukulele strummer and drummer Bobby Alu are among the acts who will perform at the event at Main Arm Upper Public School.

There will also be performances from the Bollywood Sisters, Gabriel Otu African Drumming and Spaghetti Circus, as well as family-friendly activities including Ultimate Ninja Warrior obstacle course, a side show entertainment alley, crafts, face painting and horse rides.

The free event is organised by the school’s parent association and is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the school, which is surrounded by the forest under Mount Bogarem.

Singer Emily Lubitz, who is a parent of children who attend the school, is the event’s creative and performance director and will also perform at the festival.

Lubitz spent a decade touring with critically acclaimed indie-folk darlings Tinpan Orange before going solo and has appeared on SBS’s Rockwiz and collaborated with the likes of Paul Kelly, Martha Wainwright, Jen Cloher and Mama Kin.

“It’s our local school fair really but about five years ago we thought, ‘let’s turn it into a music festival’, so in 2019 we did that,” she said.

“We had a stage and a bunch of bands and then COVID hit in 2020 and once things were back up and running for a bit our school was hit by the 2022 floods really bad and it took about two years to recover.

“There were still a few work sites around last year when we did it for the first time in four years so this year will be the first time there’s no little rebuild projects going on – the school is completely open.”

The Music in the Valley festival will be held on Sunday October 27 from 11am to 7pm.

The Magic Bus will transport people to and from the festival from outside the Mullumbimby Newsagency on Burringbar Street at 12pm, 2pm, and 4pm, with the last ride back at 6pm. Tickets for the bus cost $5.