For the past 9 years we've made the trip up the coast and set up our stall at Woodford Folk festival over Christmas and New Years.
We more or less spend a month getting ready for it, and use it as an opportunity to assess and overhaul the stall set up and appearance each year. We set the stall up in the backyard for a week or two, and contemplate how we can maximize space, change our displays, the signage and generally just to improve any way we can.
Sitting on our muddha's (Nepali stools) in the backyard, staring at the stall with notebook in hand ready to write some serious to-do lists, we always feel like Raj and Sheldon (from The Big Bang Theory) 'working hard' in the clip below.
This year saw the introduction of our new tropical themed ceiling in our gazebo. Why have a plain white roof when you can be fabulously colourful?
I literally finished hand stitching it a few hours before leaving. Sometimes it's lucky the last minute exists, or nothing would get done!
We had also wanted for a while now to show off all our beautiful images from our photo shoots in frames around the stall. Yo designed and crafted them, and we thought it was a good idea to pop them in the space above our clothing racks, just underneath the ceiling ... this space is usually empty so we thought it was the perfect spot.
It can be hard work being at a huge festival like Woodford Folk Festival. While the festival only goes for 6 days, we're onsite for the better part of 2 weeks. Often an extreme weather situation will pop up during those 2 weeks, and in QLD during Summer this usually means lots of rain. We always have a raised floor at Woodford to avoid the flooding which we know can, and sometimes does happen.
We live behind the stall, and every year have to create our 'home' anew, depending on where we are located. Below is our back of house in 2009 ... it can be a little cramped, and while the stall always looks wonderful, the back of house is a different story.
So why do we do it? Why do we give up Christmas every year to go and plant ourselves in the sticky, hot SE QLD hinterlands with 100 000 other people in the (either, but sometimes both) extreme hot or extreme wet? We could be living it up at home in Jervis Bay where thousands of people flock over Summer for the white sand and turquoise waters. And all while we're sipping cocktails on the beach and putting our feet up for a well deserved rest.
Why?
Well, because it is magical of course.
Woodford Folk Festival 2017/18 from Woodford Folk Festival on Vimeo.
If we don't see you there, then
Until next time,
Mel Xx
Image Credits
Surya Australia (that's us)!
