Festivals & Regional Destinations: How Festivals Demonstrate a Sense of Community & Place

The cultural aspects of a way of life of a place and a sense of community help us to better understand the processes of change being experienced in regional Australia. The paper explores how community-based cultural festivals grow over time to reflect the values, interests and aspirations of residents. It presents observations of the nature of four community cultural festivals in destinations in the northern rivers region of NSW. The investigation explores how a sense of community and place are linked to such events. It seeks to establish how festivals develop and manage the tensions generated by different community voices. Community festivals can reflect the community’s sense of itself. A community’s appreciation of place validates the substantial interest in such events shared by residents with visitors.