Wintersun Rock n Roll Festival 2005
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Category: events-previous
Editor's note: Wintersun is no longer held at Coolangatta. This post remains for historical interest.
Coolangatta isn't 'Lonely Street' when the Rock 'n' Rollers are in town!
Gareth has asked me to write a few paras about the Wintersun Festival. This is a 50's and 60'S Rock and Roll Festival held in Coolangatta, Queensland every June. The peak of the Festival is the Queens Birthday long weekend, but there are events every day in the week leading up to that weekend. The festival events are many and varied, and include lots of opportunities to dance (inside the clubs and on the street), a major street parade (the Adelaide Rock 'n' Roll Club usually has an entry in this), lots of cars and motorcycles (there is always a major car cruise on the Friday night), dance competitions, markets, band performances, and social events (the Adelaide people usually get together at least once for a cocktail party).
Some of the Adelaide contingent are shown above. Bob is in the front row wearing his trademark pink hat.
The event is quite large scale. As an indication of this, last year there were 33 different rock and roll bands from Australia. As another indication, on the Saturday night there were about 17 different dance floors in operation. I am told that something like 300 New Zealanders come over for the event, and we usually have 40 - 50 people from Adelaide. Many thousands come to watch the street parade on the Saturday morning.
Rock n Rollers in Coolangata Wintersun 2005
I love Wintersun. There are things to do all the time, and the costs of spending a week there are not exorbitant. In fact, you can dance every night for free if you want to, as many of the clubs put on bands to attract visitors. Also, accommodation is available for a reasonable price, and, if you book ahead, air fares are reasonable.
Look at www.wintersun.org.au if you want to know more. If you like 50's and 60's rock and roll, I recommend you visit Wintersun at least once.
Bob Couch