THE TWEED
CAN N RAL ABIS L AW LY A R N 29 A D GA T EFORM HE PRIL - 1 M RING AY
www.tweedecho.com.au Volume 3 #33 Thursday, April 28, 2011 Advertising and news enquiries: Phone: (02) 6672 2280 editor@tweedecho.com.au adcopy@tweedecho.com.au
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LOCAL & INDEPENDENT
Residents in Fingal take on vandals Murray Simpson
Fingal Head activists took the fight against feral four-wheel-drive vehicles to the streets over Easter and spoke to over 400 drivers. One driver turned up with a whole skinned sheep and a tray-load of wood intent on a barbecue in the grand manner, much to the horror of fire-conscious locals. A consortium of local groups including the dune carers, the residents’ association, the van park owners’ organisation and the Aboriginal land council banded together to mount the weekend operation. All are concerned with the havoc wrought on an environmentally sensitive area and the dangers posed to life and limb by beach vehicle activity. A check-point was manned at the start of the gravel road that runs along the spit and volunteers handed out information brochures Luis Feliu to drivers. Illegal 4WD tracks were also blocked off. A hard rain fell on the Bluesfest site at Tyagarah south of the Tweed on Tuesday as the 22nd Ninety per cent of drivers annual East Coast Blues Festival wrapped up, supportive and understanding with legend Bob Dylan closing the event with his second performance in two days. ‘In all we spoke to nearly 800 people and 90 Thousands of fans crammed into and outside per cent of them were supportive and under- the big tent for the gig but many who could standing,’ said Fingal Dunecare’s Kay Bolton. hardly get a glimpse of the superstar were left ‘They realised something had to be done to disappointed, especially as the big screens outcurb the destruction done by a few. side the tent were switched off and no close-up ‘People had stories of close encounters with shots were allowed, which Dylan apparently 4WDs including near misses with surfers walk- insisted on. However, many fans raved about ing through the tracks, sun bathers on the beach their favourite singer-songwriter, saying he was and 4WDs speeding over sand dunes.’ simply ‘awesome’. Police and Tweed Shire rangers have exThe festival has been hailed as having the best pressed strong support and promised stepped ever musical line-up in Australian festival histoup patrols. ry, evident with the 110,000 people who passed Beach vehicle activity has been blamed for the through the gates over the six days and nights, destruction of loggerhead and green turtle nests averaging out to about 18,000 people per day. and the disappearance of a pair of extremely Other big acts included BB King, Elvis Costelcontinued on page 2 lo, Jethro Tull, Grace Jones and John Legend.
Legends grace Bluesfest stage Bob Dylan looks to heaven’s door for inspiration during his performance on Tuesday night. Photo Jeff ‘Don’t Look Once’ Dawson
Festival director Peter Noble said this year’s festival would be very hard to beat. ‘We’ve been blessed with good weather, we’ve had a very peaceful and happy event, and we’ve had the planet’s finest artists delivering incredible music for six days and nights straight.
True to our roots ‘Bluesfest is proud to be a family event that remains artistically, musically and ethnically diverse. We’ve grown bigger as we’ve evolved to appeal to multiple generations of music lovers, but our success comes from staying true to our roots and loyal to our many patrons who’ve been with us since day one. ‘At Bluesfest, the feeling is a genuinely aware, globally united, anti-mainstream spirit and attitude – the musicians who play here get it – and the audience definitely gets it. Artists tell us all the time they love playing at Bluesfest. First By-
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ron is a special place, second they love the level of sound production we offer, and third – they say our audience is among the most receptive in the world!’ Meanwhile, police have praised festivalgoers for their behaviour. During the six-day event, police from Tweed/Byron and Richmond local area commands, as well as the dog squad and officers brought in from other areas kept an eye on the event and its thousands of patrons. Police said they conducted 315 personal searches, with 146 drug dog detections resulting in 128 cannabis cautions being issued. Sixteen people were given court attendance notices for drug related offences, with most drugs seized being cannabis and a small amount of amphetamine. Superintendent Stuart Wilkins said there were only a handful of minor anti-social incidents resulting in seven people issued with court attendance notices.
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