A Festive weekend?
Peter Furler takes to the mainstage at Easterfest 2011. (Photo courtesy of Easterfest)
Traditionally speaking, the Easter long-weekend is a time for quiet contemplation of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the cross, spending time with family, and stuffing your face full of chocolate.
However, it’s obvious that the traditional Easter long-weekend—chocolate-stuffing aside—is no longer the norm here in Australia. The shops are still open, the sombre contemplation is put aside and many families have nicked off for a quick vacation.
The modern Easter is a holiday, rather than an annual reminder of one of the most important events in human history.
So how do Christians balance these two opposing perspectives on the Easter long-weekend? After all, we enjoy a holiday as much as anyone, but we also recognise the significance of the Easter message. For music-loving Christians, the answer is Easterfest.
Easterfest is an annual gospel music festival held in and around Toowoomba (Qld) over the course of the long-weekend. Based in the Queens Park precinct of the city’s CBD, the event sees around 200 international and Australian bands, soloists and artists playing gigs all over the town.
‘We have artists playing in 10 venues in the ticketed venue in Queens Park where people can camp over the weekend,’ says festival director David Schenk.
‘But we’re also putting on performances in cinemas, shopping centres and theatres throughout the city of Toowoomba and most of that is free for people to watch. We have another 30 or 40 venues including churches, pubs, cafes and restaurants.’
It’s an arrangement that requires a huge degree of cooperation from the city of Toowoomba, but it’s an arrangement that is beneficial for everyone involved. Regional council mayor Peter Taylor says that the festival has established itself as one of the region’s premier events.
‘[Easterfest] is one of the most-anticipated dates on the calendar, not just for visitors but for entertainers and local business owners as well,’ he said.
‘We have many thousands of young people coming to the area—a good number for the first time—and they get to see what a magnificent lifestyle we have here.’
As great a setting as Toowoomba is, it’s the music that brings the crowds in. David and the Easterfest team have organised a huge number of artists for this year’s event, with headline acts ranging from triple Grammy Award-winning artist Michael W Smith and noted singer-songwriter Darlene Zschech; through to rock group P.O.D. and the metallic hardcore of A Plea For Purging.
Adding to this diverse line-up are gospel quartet Ernie Haase & Signature Sound,indie rock outfits Hawk Nelson and Mike Mains & The Branches, and many more.
But there is more to Easterfest than just music;as a Christian event it also focuses on the traditional message of Easter—that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and subsequent resurrection offers us the chance at redemption from sin and death.
‘We believe the Christian message of Easter demands a response,’ says David. ‘It’s not something that you can just go “Aw, that’s nice” and it gives you warm fuzzy feelings. So we have a strong integration with all sorts of social justice organisations.
‘There will be a bunch of ways that people can actively engage in responding to the Easter message throughout the weekend.’
Patrons will have the opportunity to participate in challenges throughout the weekend, with goals such as giving non-perishable food items to a Toowoomba organisation that works with homeless people or supporting some of the social justice groups involved in the festival.
Maintaining a family-friendly atmosphere is also hugely important for festival organisers. The camp ground in Queens Park is one of Australia’s largest drug and alcohol-free events, and the crowd there are very friendly and cooperative.
This, David says, has been a huge blessing during past festivals. Just last year, a freak storm poured more than 50 mm of rain over the course of 30 minutes, causing one of the main tents in the Queens Park precinct to collapse—20,000 people had to be evacuated from the area.
‘I’ll be happy if I never have to evacuate [that many] people again in my life,’ says David.
‘But we have some great people on staff and our crowds are amazing. The emergency service workers were telling us they were just astonished at the way the crowd handled the situation and their responsiveness to direction. They said the fact that there were no drugs or alcohol involved made a huge difference.
‘The crowd cared about each other and were looking out for one another. If somebody fell down somebody else was there to pick them up… but it was certainly something we’d be very happy not to have happen again.’
All this talk of abstinence, social activism and Easter messages may be leading you to think that Easterfest is an event only for Christians, but David stresses that—while Easterfest is a Christian event at heart—it has plenty to offer to non-Christians as well.
‘The other major event Toowoomba is known for is the Carnival of Flowers. But I’m not a gardener, so on the surface of it it’d be easy to say, “That’s not for me”.
‘But whether I’m into flowers or not, the Flower, Food and Wine Festival in Queens Park has some great bands playing. There are rides and my kids enjoy those as much as any flower loving parents’ kids might. I feel the same way about Easterfest.’
The risk for the organisers of the festival has been that, because people know the festival is a Christian event at its core, people who don’t go to church will think the festival doesn’t have anything for them.
‘We’re working hard to ensure that Easterfest is an event that has something for everybody, even though there is a particular focus for those of us who share our Christian faith,’ says David.
That push has seen organisers team up with Bus Qld. to run a cut down version of the Toowoomba bus service—which normally doesn’t run on public holidays—over Easter weekend. The buses will provide free transport to anyone who wants to use them, not just festival patrons.
David says the main reason for such an endeavour is to give the people of Toowoomba who don’t go to church a chance to attend some of the festival events that might appeal to them.
‘Church may not be their thing, [but] there are still great quality jazz bands playing in their favourite cafe for free. There are rides for primary school-aged children at the main shopping centre in Toowoomba.A jumping castle is still a jumping castle, no matter what your belief system may be.’
This theory is backed up by Mayor Taylor, who says that Easterfest provides a positive impact for everyone in Toowoomba.
‘It creates a vibrant feel in our city’s heart and gives everyone a real lift,’he says.
‘With patron figures growing each year and the number of quality international acts that want to be a part of the program, I know Easterfest will continue to go from strength to strength.’
Report by Ryan English. This article originally appeared in Warcry, and is used with permission.
Easterfest 2012 will take place from 6-8 April. You can visit the Easterfest 2012 website for more info and tickets.
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