If you need rain, plan a street festival.
While waking up to steady rain is a dim memory for most, Peter Allen Boulevard day of Tenterfield’s inaugural Peter Allen Festival had to dawn to stormy skies.
The wet weather, however, did little to dampen spirits as the drought-savage community welcomed the rain and carried on regardless, umbrellas at the ready.
In fact if you have to hold a market in wet weather, Rouse Street proved to be an ideal location as punters took shelter under shop awnings or explored the undercover retail outlets during the heavier showers, emerging to check out all the stall offerings during breaks in the weather.
By lunchtime the clouds had cleared to a brilliant spring day and the street was a hive of activitiy. As one observerer noted, it was similar to the crowd that gathers along the street for the Anzac Day march, but maintained over many hours instead of the 10 minutes of the parade.
With accommodation in town at capacity and great reviews of the Tenterfield to Rio cabaret show by Danny Elliot at the School of Arts theatre already in the record books (some tickets remain for the extra show on Sunday), organisers looked forward to the Jam Session at Tenterfield Memorial Hall on Saturday night, the Peter Allen Story music supper club on Sunday afternoon (also at the School of Arts) and a host of other events over the remainder to the weekend.
