The beloved festival has announced its summer return.
Loch Hart Music Festival has announced its summer return to southwest Victoria with the launch of a competition giving festivalgoers the chance to win four tickets, glamping and a helicopter ride over the Twelve Apostles.
The three-day event in Princetown, along the Great Ocean Road, was gaining momentum in its third year when director Jayden Bath made the early and difficult call to postpone due to the pandemic.
Now two years on, the tight-knit team is excited to officially announce its 2021 dates.
“We’ve locked in 19-21 November this year and we’re super excited to be back after two long years,” Bath said.
“We’ve been doing a lot of planning and thinking in that time as to what we can do in 2021 and are excited to bring it back to Princetown.
“Last year we were pretty pessimistic about what the state of events was going to be in November so we called the festival off pretty early and managed to not lose much in terms of financials or planning.
“The biggest loss for us was our momentum and growth – we doubled in size from 2018 to 2019 and were hoping to keep that momentum going in 2020 but had to pull the pin.
“This year I’m a lot more optimistic; we’ve seen how Victoria and Australia more generally can beat this and we can have events again. Obviously, there’s no knowing what November’s going to bring but at this stage it’s just: plan for the worst and hope for the best.
“We’ll be taking a lot of precautions in the lead up to the festival to make sure we can go ahead and if not we’ve got backup options and the ability to offer refunds and things like that.
“However we are planning like we are going ahead because I’m pretty confident with a small festival like ours in a paddock in Princetown that we can go ahead.”
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The grassroots BYO event plays host to more than 20 Australian acts over one weekend on one stage in a natural amphitheatre at Kangaroobie Camp and has seen performances from the likes of Didirri, Alice Ivy, Alpine, Waax, Last Dinosaurs and Genesis Owusu.
The festival has a region-first focus; from the food trucks to the live acts.
“I’m from Colac myself so I feel very much like a local, and my business partners Matt and Sophie Bowker are very much local community folk. It’s a very active initiative from us to ensure we are collaborating with the community in any way possible.
“We do that from the stallholders to hiring toilets, but most importantly through booking artists; making sure our regional artists have the opportunity to perform to local audiences and put them on display in front of audiences traveling to the area for the festival.”
It’s a boutique event and fosters connection and community first and foremost.
“It’s very much designed around everything we love to see at a music festival; so it’s camping for two nights, music over two-and-a-half days and is BYO which I think is important not just from a money-saving point of view, but makes for a very trusting community and atmosphere were you can come and listen great music and not pay exorbitant money for alcohol if you wish to drink.
“It’s the kind of festival where you’ll pull up a tent next to a neighbour and be best friends by the end of the festival.”
“When it comes to our artists, we try extremely hard to book people who have an amazing live performance. It’s not necessarily about the trending names or the biggest names, it’s about who delivers the best live music performance on stage.”
To celebrate the securing of the November 19-21 date, the festival has launched a competition today ahead of pre-sale ticket releases for patrons to have the chance of winning four festival tickets, luxe glamping and a helicopter ride over the Twelve Apostles. Plus, the runner up will win a Glamping Upgrade for four people, and the next five winners will receive complimentary Dinner and Drinks at the festival!
“If you’re getting tickets to the 2021 event we encourage people to enter the competition because just by entering you secure access to pre-sale tickets which are happening July 26.
“We’re unsure about capacity limits so it’s about making sure everyone enters to enable themselves to buy tickets.”
To enter the competition, all you need to do is register for pre-sale tickets here.
