Deni Ute Muster heats up

The Deni Ute Muster’s Sweet 16th celebration ended on Saturday night (4th October) with Latino-country music stars, The Mavericks, closing two massive days of family fun, music, yarn bombing, whip cracking, bull riding, Dancing Diggers, Circle Work Championships, wood chopping and mustering.

Held at Deniliquin in the NSW Riverina region, the fun kicked off on Friday morning with The Today Show on site to cover the gates opening at 6am letting the first of the weekend’s 18,000 attendees onto the site of one of Australia’s seminal events.

It was family’s first at this year’s 'Muster' with children and families enjoying the JCB Dancing Diggers, Mack the Transporter and Lightning McQueen - two of the stars of the Disney-Pixar animated films Cars and Cars 2 – jumping castles, trike track, carnival rides, football passing competitions, loom band stations, face painting and a petting farm.

Commenting on the success Deni Ute Muster General Manager Kate Pitt stated "this year’s Sweet 16th Muster birthday was everything we hoped it would be.

"We were blessed again with beautiful weather, a crowd full of smiling faces and world class entertainment.

“We’d also like to acknowledge our Strategic Partner, Destination NSW, our Event Partners, Deniliquin Council and Conargo Shire Council and our major sponsors Holden, Bundaberg, Decentralised Demountables, IGA and our official partners, XXXX Gold and Polaris. We couldn’t continue growing the event without their support and we want to thank them all for their ongoing support.”

Friday night’s opening concert was headlined by country music superstar, Gary Allan, with Troy Cassar-Daley and Adam Harvey, Blackjack Billy and Morgan Evans all getting the crowd up dancing and singing along well into the night.

Temperatures warmed up on Saturday but sundown brought the temperature down and the crowds crammed into the amphitheatre for the night’s musical line up.

From the moment The Mavericks took the stage to close the night, it was obvious they came to Deni to party and they certainly did throughout their high energy, 25 song set.

Also taking the stage on the last night was Australia’s country music queen, Kasey Chambers, who stepped up last week to fill Jimmy Barnes' shoes after he had to pull out on doctor’s orders and dedicated a special performance of the Cold Chisel classic, Khe Sanh, to wish him a speedy recovery. Finley’s own Spiderbait also totally rocked out on the main stage with current pop sensations, Sheppard, opening the night and starting the crowd dancing and singing as the sun set, showing why they’re being hailed as Australia’s next big musical export.

The Deni Ute Muster’s amphitheatre was once again filled with blue singlets, with this year’s count reaching 3,211, while 6,525 utes were also on site.

Hayden & Jess Sharman from Westmeadows (Vic) won Deniliquin Ute Muster Show and Shine with their 1997 Toyota Landcruiser FJ45. Bob Waldner walked away with a win in the Holden Barrel Race. The Go to Wo was won by Daniel Gemelli with his 1966 Holden HR.

In the driving competitions, The Australian National Circle Work Championships, sponsored by GME, was won by Zac Turner who impressed the judges with his 2004 Ford BA Falcon XR8 and driving performance. Second was Michael Bekins and third placed was Bob Waldner.

This year’s Holden Grunt Off male team winners, with a time of 10:12, were team Tug ‘em Hard and the female team winners were Hunter Valley Rednecks with a time of 14:19 seconds.