Carterton Mayor Ron Mark turned singing cowboy yesterday to open the inaugural Clareville Country Music Festival before a crowd of about 100 earlybird fans.
Mr Mark, decked out in a cream Stetson, stacked heel boots and shiny buckle belt, offered up a spirited rendition of the Waylon Jennings tune, Good Hearted Woman, with back-up from festival band Kidnappers and hand-clapping support from the crowd.
His partner Chris Tracey is festival manager and Carterton district councillors were part of the crowd and the management crew, including deputy mayor John Booth, who was helping direct festival-goers to parking areas at the Wairarapa A&P Association grounds at Clareville.
Festival stage manager Holly McGeorge said 16 supporting and headline acts will take the stage over the course of the three-day event. That stage is a curtain-sided and hay-bale lined truck trailer that boasts a cattle pavilion as a backdrop.
Performers at the festival include star guests Brendan Dugan, Kevin Greave, Marian Burns, Midnite Special, Wairarapa artists Cruize Karaitiana and Tanya Warren, Jenny "The Banjo Queen" Blackadder, Peter "Lord of the Strings" Jackson, and Australian-based couple Camille Te Nahu and Stuie French.
