On Australia Day long weekend in Mount Barker South Australia a community celebration is held. I went to the 2009 event during the evening.
Mount Barker is a cruisy country town in the Adelaide Hills just off the freeway to Murray Bridge. Tree lined Murray Street is the old main street of the town. Victorian verandahs, boutique local shops and pubs. Murray Street is closed for the whole day of the Big Lounge. January can be pretty hot so we did not arrive during the early part of the day but rocked up at about 5pm.
The whole street is filled with beige and burnt orange venerable lounge suites which must have escaped from secondhand shops or been retired from rumpus rooms. Gold velvet with wooden arms, Silver foam bouncy 70's bits of whimsy, wheaty fleck or front bar brown. They've all seen better days. The street is crammed with them. They look like the soft furnishing answer to the Revolt of the Viaducts. They are all for sale with the proceeds going to charity.
This year there were two stages with performers throughout the day. During the time we were there we saw a violin group, Steve Gower on guitar, harmonica and stompbox, and a band from Melbourne playing blues. Each of the groups had a member who was from the Adelaide Hills. It was pretty cool to see a groovesome event put together with local talent.
Jenni, Tallis, Cassie and I found some comfy real estate and lounged through the first part of the evening. Tallis and Cassie found icecreams and Jenni and I found good coffee and portuguese tarts. Toddlers crawled off the edges of blankets and joined the general bustle. Mobs of happy fairies danced to the violins, in wings and bare feet.
Later in the evening there was much dancing. Smoke machine and coloured lights through the trees helped the old lounges make more of the indoor/outdoor feel of the event. Blokes lurked up the back, watching the dancing, with the dress store mannequins looking over their shoulders.
It was a fine evening. We marched off with the silver bouncy lounge for Jenni's front porch and managed to squidge it into the back of the car. Looking forward to the same event next year.