The magic of the muster

Letter to the Editor – Mervyn Welch Sadly, it's over for another year and the dust (hardly any this year) has settled on the Gympie Music Muster of 2026. What a blast it was, featuring an impressive blend of familiar and exciting new talent. On Friday night Brooke Schubert started the program on the Optus Hill Stage, and she was followed by Felicity Urquhart, Taylor Moss, Larry Fleet and finally the evergreen 'boy from the bush', Lee Kernaghan. I don't think I've ever seen a bigger mosh-pit. It was a cameo of the brilliant entertainment throughout the entire Muster. Saturday night was huge too when the program started with very talented Star Maker, Jarrod Wrigley, followed by much-loved singing storyteller, Graeme Connors. Muster Ambassador Amber Lawrence, The Davisson Brothers Band and James Johnston played out a fantastic night. And what a spectacle the Main Stage area is at night! Behind it the forest is a mist of lilac, a backdrop to the breathtaking kaleidoscope of lighting on the stage. On dusk the massive bonfire is rekindled, the kids play footy or balloon tennis beside the stage, and occasionally a man rides a thankfully docile bullock among the bystanders. To be there is to experience the extraordinary buzz that is the Gympie Muster. Families with young children seemed to be everywhere and I never saw a child that wasn't smiling. While there was plenty of room on the dance floor for Rock and Roll enthusiasts ,there wasn't a spare blade of grass to sit on at the R.M.Williams Rodeo Arena. I spoke to a woman from Colac in Victoria who was at her first Muster and a man from Cooma in the Blue Mountains who said it was his twenty-second. Both said they would be back next year. The Gympie Music Muster is a national phenomenon of which we can be justly proud. This year the Muster will have raised tens of thousands of dollars to support the charity partner 'Get Yourself Checked', an organisation dedicated to alerting men to be vigilant for symptoms of prostate cancer. Congratulations to the executive team who work year-round to stage a hugely complex event in a temporary city on wheels and under canvas and the more than a thousand volunteers who make it look simple. While other Festivals are waning in popularity or folding up the Gympie Muster seems to go from strength to strength. Long may it flourish! Merv Welch, The Palms.