“We love our Riverboats family. It’s always great when an event can get that many repeat visitors. It shows that we must be doing something that people are responding to it,” he said.
With Missy Higgins, Peter Garrett, and Kasey Chambers locked in to perform in Echuca this weekend, the line-up is better than ever.
“This is the 12th year we’ve run the event, and it’s certainly the most significant line-up to date,” Mr Frazer said.
“To be able to see the likes of Missy Higgins, Peter Garrett, Tamers, Regurgitator, all on the same bill over the one weekend in such a beautiful, natural setting is incredible.”
The sideshows, in particular, make for a memorable weekend, according to Mr Frazer.
“There’s always a huge response to the sideshows, particularly from out-of-towners. It’s just such a great excuse to get on the river for an hour and experience a cruise with an acoustic performance by one of our artists,” he said.
“It’s become a really beloved part of the festival experience. It’s the only festival in Australia where you can do that, where you can experience an acoustic set on a 120-year-old paddle steamer.”
It’s a sentiment that music fans seem to agree with as they plan to flock to the region for the festival this weekend.
“We had a huge response to our line-up announcements back in November, and we’re very near capacity, which is really wonderful,” Mr Frazer said.
“We’re going to have (over) 4,500 people down here for the weekend. We’ve just been thrilled by the response. We’ve got big upgrades to our staging, so it will be an incredible, incredible show.”
With many visitors travelling for the festival, Mr Frazer said it’s a great way to showcase the region.
“We have a huge amount of out-of-towners that come for the weekend. In fact, 80 per cent of our crowd are from inner Melbourne now,” he said.
“The last time we were up here, the venue was five meters underwater, and you can still see all of the flood marks on the red gums down here. So I think that’s going to be quite a talking point when people arrive on Friday, too.”
There will be lots of Echuca for the visitors to enjoy, with local food vendors participating in the festival.
“It’s just a great way to showcase the Echuca Moama community and everything special about this region. We’ve never had so many local food operators down here,” he said.
“We've got Bar Lee building a pop-up kitchen. The Echuca junior footy club have got a sausage sizzle all weekend, so they’re going to have a heap of volunteers down here, which will be great. The Port Ice Creamery is coming down, so it will be an excellent way to celebrate everything great about the area.”
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