Tussock Country On Track Despite Omicron
Tussock Country Music Festival organisers met on Monday evening and unanimously decided to continue preparations for the upcoming event, scheduled to be held in Gore in late May and early June of this year.
While many upcoming events around the country have cancelled because of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, stakeholders agreed there was still time for Covid alert levels to drop before the festival kicks off on May 28th, allowing festivities to safely proceed in line with NZ Ministry of Health guidelines.
Following the success of the inaugural festival held in 2021, Tussock Country is set to stage over 50 events across ten days in 2022, encompassing events managed by the Gore Country Music Club, the NZ Songwriters Trust, the NZ Gold Guitar committee, the Gore District Council and many other independent artists and community organisations.
Tickets for all events were scheduled to go on sale from February 3rd, however this release has now been delayed for one month, providing event organisers additional time to assess festival viability without the need for ticketing refunds.
“As a group we’re determined to give Tussock Country every chance of going ahead”, says festival chairman Jeff Rea. “If we can deliver another successful, safe festival for artists, patrons and the Eastern Southland community then we certainly will. If not, we’ll be well organised for an extra special festival come 2023.”
A final decision on this year’s event will be made in late February, and will be announced on the festival’s social media pages and www.tussockcountry.nz website.