An Eyre Peninsula town of about 500 people will swell into the thousands when an inaugural music festival is held later this year.
Announced at the end of 2023, Granite Rocks will make its home at the Wudinna Oval on April 13 with
Local musician and event organiser Steven Westlake said the initial idea for the event was born out of an experience at another SA music festival.
After attending Caltowie Chilled Out 'n' Fired Up Music Festival, Steven said he was inspired to give a similar event a crack on his own home turf.
"I've always been pretty keen on music and parties, so it's been in the back of my mind for quite a while," he said.
"But last year about half a dozen car loads of us went over to Caltowie and I thought 'why don't we do one of these?'.
"Ben (Van Boekel) from Caltowie helped us out and it went from there."
From there, the preparations started and Steven set off to find a headlining act.
One well-known Aussie rock band was a clear choice in his mind, and the festival's proposed date fit in with their touring schedule.
"The Screaming Jets was the main band I came up with because I thought they would attract the most broad range of people," Steven said.
"Teenagers to retirees all know the band and we wanted to draw a big crowd.
"Everyone I've spoken to seems pretty stoked about it so we're all looking forward to seeing them on stage soon."
A host of other homegrown acts are also on the bill, including Funky Monks, Basket Case, Chelsea Manor, Hinters Will, Loose Change, Joshy Willo, Brass Souls and DG and Other Chords plus Steven's own band, Outnumbered.
"I wanted to keep the line-up as local as possible but also bring in crowds from other regions," Steven said.
"So we've been able to support our local EP musicians as well as get some bands from right across the state like down in the South East and in the Mid North."
Since tickets for the event went on sale in mid-January, more than 700 have sold and with the event's capacity topped out at about 1500, there are not many left up for grabs.
"We had early bird pre-sale running for a week and we sold out before the week was over," Steven said.
"We're stoked to have sold so many tickets in less than a month, so I'm looking forward to a hopefully sold out event come April."
Not only an enjoyable event, Steven said the festival would also help bolster the town's economy in addition to supporting a worthy cause.
A percentage of the event's proceeds will be donated to the Royal Flying Doctor Service, which Steven said was close to the community's heart.
"The RFDS is really important for my business contracting in the mines, but it's also something the community of Wudinna and EP use on a regular basis.
"We'll keep some proceeds as we'll need them to put back into next year's event if all goes to plan, but we're excited to give back to the RFDS where we can."
Steven said with just three months until the event, his focus was now on finalising sponsorships and vendors before set-up starts.
"There's a lot of work ahead of us but we've got plenty of people putting their hand sup to help out and the community is really rallying behind us," he said.
- www.graniterockswudinna.com
Katie Jackson
Journalist at Stock Journal. Born into a journo family in the state's South East, Katie made the move to the big smoke to join the team in early 2022 after seven years spent at various mastheads in the regions.
Journalist at Stock Journal. Born into a journo family in the state's South East, Katie made the move to the big smoke to join the team in early 2022 after seven years spent at various mastheads in the regions.
