Folks across the region are invited to visit Uki for a special thank you to the ‘Mud Army’, the extended community of volunteers who flocked to the Northern Rivers as first responders to assist the flood-impacted community.
To celebrate the recovery from the big floods of early 2022, the Uki community is hosting The Uki Festival in October, a free world-class music, art, dance, food and resilience festival.
The festivities will commence both days at 10am with a Welcome to Country followed by a traditional Smoking Ceremony. The entertainment includes gospel-blues stars Hat Fitz and Cara on the Saturday, and Blues-roots legend Ash Grunwald on the Sunday, with performances from The Best of Poets Out Loud, Bill Jacobi, youngest-ever contestant on The Voice, Australia, Emmagen Rain, Jesse Witney, The Mandy Hawkes Band, The Warren Earle Band, Jerome Williams, BLAKBOI, The Whopping Big Band, Elena B Williams and many more.
There will be an art exhibition and auction, dance performances, a sponsored Bootscoot and bush dance.
Resilience agencies such as the RFS, SES, Red Cross and Resilient Uki will be in attendance, and there will be talks, and yarn-ups in the dedicated Elders’ space.
Major partner Mavis’s Kitchen will be at the Saturday morning produce markets in the Uki Hall, sampling the local goodies and transforming local produce into culinary magic.
Return Gosels buses will run from Murwillumbah every hour all weekend, as well as an hourly local shuttle bus for locals and visitors, who are being encouraged to leave the car at home.
The Uki Festival is not for profit, and is run by volunteers. October 22 and 23 with a free entry.
Program, transport and other details can be found at the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/TheUkiFest.
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