Your guide to your first Uranquinty Folk Festival

aka What? Help! I don't understand!

The Basics

Accommodation

1. Talk to your neighbours as you set up your camp.  They will most likely happily advise you which direction to pitch your tent to avoid rain and wind, and point you to where the vital facilities are. And you will make new friends!
2. You may find there are people who have been camping in a particular spot for decades, but most of them will have already set up long before you arrived, so you are unlikely to ruffle feathers where ever you decide to camp - but do try to be flexible if someone does approach you about moving your tent a bit to let someone else fit their tent in.
3. Once you are in you are in. In general, it is preferred that you set up camp and then move and park your car outside the fence, so that if you have to go somewhere you won't disturb anyone, or tear up the grass more than is strictly necessary. 

Food

It is best to be prepared and bring at least some of your own food, but you can buy egg and bacon rolls at breakfast time, and then other tasty meals are available at the hall on Saturday and Sunday evening.  Importantly, there is a coffee van on site. The Uranquinty Pub is also a great local option for a pub meal, and the Quinty Bakehouse has award winning pies and pastries.

The Experience

The Quinty pub is usually the venue for the opening concert on Friday night from 6pm and an opportunity for a "meet n greet" and to purchase weekend tickets.

There is a full program of events in the hall from Saturday morning  - including poets' breakfasts, women's concert, quinty choir, featured performers, bush dance, singalongs and much more. The tennis hut is the site for blackboard sessions, impromptu sessions and jams.

During the day, parents would be very welcome to organise group activities for the kids - if you would like to organise something, please let us know and we will add it it to the program!

Of course, there will be world-class bonfire sessions around the oval till the wee small hours every night.

Sunday afternoon is now the (in?)famous Quinty Chorus Cup. Compose a song about your experiences at Uranquinty and perform it for the honour and glory of winning the Chorus cup.

Monday is a lazy day for people able to stick around and avoid the traffic - however there are still things going on!  The traditional veggie bowls session is always a hoot, and wraps up with a community dinner and even more bonfire sessions.       

The written unwritten rules

Campfire music etiquette

1. Pause as you come close to a campfire. Listen and observe.
   
2. If the people around the campfire appear to be taking turns around the circle to perform and it looks like you could be welcomed to do so yourself, it is polite to insert yourself further around the circle, so that you have time to listen respectfully to other people before getting a turn to perform yourself. 
3. You may find yourself at a fire where there is "session music" going on.  This is where you will find lots of people playing together some particular style of music: for example it might be Irish dance tunes, blues music or "old timey" music. Whatever the genre you are in for a treat as you will hear some world class performers playing for the joy of it and you will be awed at their skills.  Sometimes these fires will end up with concentric circles of musicians - the really experienced musicians usually in the centre ring.  Generally there will be one or two of those who will lead and decide what the next tune will be. They will almost never actually say the names of any of the tunes and tend to flow almost seamlessly from one to the next, so you might feel a bit lost. Don't be scared - if you aren't confident and expert but are keen to play, tuck yourself into a spot on the outermost ring and play quietly - the more you play the better you will get.  Oh and don't expect that anyone will look up from their playing to speak to you; it isn't that they aren't friendly folk, they are just otherwise occupied. 

General camp/festival etiquette

1. Help your neighbour: Whether they need a match to light their fire, a splash of milk, or someone to hold a pole up while they drive a peg in, sometimes people just need a hand with things.  Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and help someone when they need it because more often than not the favour will be returned.
2. Pick your spot/time: noone wants to stop you having a fabulous festival. But singing raucously all night right next to a campsite that has small kids is not going to make you very popular. Find a spot where your noise won't disturb others, or even better, will be welcomed enthusiastically. Need a smoke? Make sure your smoke isn't going to drift into someone's tent. The same courtesies will come back to you in other ways. 
3. Clean up after yourself. NOONE is paid to clean up after you - every single thing that happens at the festival (outside performances) is being done by someone who is doing it out of the kindness of their heart. Don't make their lives more difficult.
   
4. Volunteer - putting your hand up to give a hand makes you very popular with the organising team, will help you feel more involved in the action, and will give you the chance to meet lots of lovely people!
5. Be nice to all our volunteers and if you see a problem think about what you can do to fix it rather than just complain about it (See points 3 and 4 above).
   
6. At the end of the event, lend a hand. For example, if someone has been camping alone, they might appreciate another body just to help them roll up their mattress or hold their tent bag.  See what needs to be done around the site - stack chairs, sweep a floor: the organisers have been working all weekend and will very much appreciate the help from someone who still has some energy left!
7. If you have had a great time, take the time to tell us, and also tell your friends and family about the event so that they can come next time!