Deniliquin comes alive every October long weekend with the iconic Deni Ute Muster - Australia’s largest festival all about ute culture. In a time where Australian festivals are going under, organisers are confident their attendees will buck the trend and keep the Deni Ute Muster afloat.
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00:00 Most of the time, Daniloquin is just a small town of about 7,500 people sitting on the
00:07 banks of the Edward River.
00:10 It's quiet, unless you happen to be visiting on the October long weekend.
00:14 That's when it becomes a mecca for all things revs and revelry.
00:18 Around 20,000 ute lovers and boot scooters descend on the town's incredibly flat plain
00:24 for the annual Denny Ute Muster.
00:26 It was 6am in the morning and it's dark and all you can see are headlights and ute horns
00:38 beeping and it was just an experience I'll never forget and all these people just coming
00:45 together for all the same reason.
00:49 The Denny Ute Muster is an annual pilgrimage for country folk, ute enthusiasts, families
00:54 and luricans who travel from around Australia and even the world for a weekend celebrating
01:00 all things country.
01:02 Attracting headline acts like Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Tim McGraw, Shannon Knoll and
01:08 Amy Shark, it's a festival that puts Daniloquin right on the map.
01:13 From the get-go in 1999, the Denny Ute Muster has been an economic stronghold for the Murray
01:18 town, injecting $8-12 million into its economy.
01:47 And as its popularity grew and grew, so did the traditions.
01:52 You'll spot plenty of Denny Ute Muster merch including iconic singlets, bumper stickers
01:57 and cattle tags.
01:58 You know we all put our cowgirl hats on or cowboy hats on and the children do the same
02:03 and it's not something we get around in every day but we tend to put our country on.
02:10 Alana Raper is a Daniloquin local who joined the party 25 years ago when it all began.
02:16 She hasn't missed a year and these days she attends with her husband and her young children.
02:21 They enjoy the music, they enjoy the sandpit even, the rides, yeah everything.
02:29 The circle work pretty cool now for our teenage boy.
02:32 I love seeing our local community come together to put on such an amazing weekend that's just
02:41 out the paddock.
02:42 Post COVID there's no denying that the Australian festival industry is struggling.
02:47 Major festivals Groove in the Moo and Splendour in the Grass have had to pull the plug and
02:52 so the question of any regional festival's longevity has come to the fore.
02:57 However at least for this year, Vicky says that the Denny Ute Muster is seeing the levels
03:02 of support needed to keep the festival going.
03:05 You know we're really fortunate with the Denny Ute Muster that we're not seeing those trends.
03:10 With anything from this year's Muster our ticket sales are going extremely well and
03:15 I think you know it's great to have the history and that's still the heart and soul of our
03:20 event but it also you have to have change or you know you can't move forward.
03:26 [Music]