In what is being heralded as a bumper weekend for major events, the Gold Coast played host to the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 and the Groundwater Country Music Festival, seeing the city’s restaurants, hotels and shopping precincts packed for the first time since the pandemic began.
Sunny skies greeted tens of thousands of fans over the weekend for the ninth annual festival, held in Broadbeach, with the return of Interstate and International travellers evident and welcomed by organisers and performers.
Canadian headliner Dan Davidson said: “There is nothing in the world like Groundwater CMF, we arrived on the first day, walked around and it took our breath away – the Gold Coast is absolutely amazing! There is a friendliness of spirit everywhere that has been reflective of the country music vibe that brings people together.
“To make it even better, every single person that is part of the festival has treated us like gold…it’s been a 10 out of 10 experience, and I’m so stoked to be here representing Canada and making new friends.”
This year’s event saw big names like Seaforth, Andrew Farris, Gina Jeffries, Kaylee Bell, Travis Collins, Tami Neilson, and Fanny Lumsden entertain a crowd of thousands across the Broadbeach events precinct.
“What a great weekend!” said festival favouriteFanny Lumsden.“Groundwater CMF was such a joy to play; to see thousands of people from all over literally dancing in the street again and all the artists come together in the sun kind of made everything make sense.”
In a collision of worlds country artist, Hayley Jensen was also borrowed from Groundwater to sing the national anthem at the other big event happening on the coast this weekend, the GC500 before the start of the main race.