Koha Music Festival back with a bang

The Beez Kneez in action. (Suyin Chan)

The Koha Community Cafe’s Music Festival Fundraiser held on 17 August saw a packed-out hall with the community coming together to enjoy an amazing night of music from seven local bands.

Szara Fox and the Midnight Secrets, Tim Ireland & The Captain, The Idle Idolisers, Beez Neez, Starvation Creek, TOIL and Bluffy, all generously donated their time to put on a great music event to help raise funds for Koha Community Café in Warburton.

The night was MC’ed by Karen Duke from Mad Hatters Theatrics who made it incredibly fun with her commentary and the sound set up was expertly done by Ollie de Varga to ensure all the bands sounded their best.

“Great night, hope this is just the beginning, channeling so much of Wyld Thyme days with so much talent and great to see the younger generation are killing it,” Tom from Starvation Creek said.

Through ticket sales, raffles, food and drinks and donations, the Café raised $6,755.50 which will go a long way to supporting Koha to continue providing meals in the community. It is estimated this will cover the cost of about 1000 meals.

“We had such a fun night at the Koha Cafe Fundraiser, Warburton on Saturday, performing as the Idle Idolisers along with 6 other wonderful local bands, Koha and its volunteers are the glue that helps keep the community together. Thanks for having us as part of the event Koha,” the Idle Idolisers said.

The event was initiated by Michelle Fisher, and along with Mel Bouck and Suyin Chan it was pulled together after a long hiatus. It also couldn’t have been done without the generosity and commitment of Koha volunteers who cooked, cleaned, ran the two kitchens and bar, made desserts and meals. Committeee members said it was heartening also to have a number of attendees step up and help out through the night and to see the enormous support of the community to keep Koha going.

The Koha Community Cafe would like to give thanks to the generosity of local businesses and individuals, including those who contributed to a mega raffle with about 65 prizes up for grabs, which meant that many people went home very happy.

The bands and many community members are keen to see it happen again next year as it was a great event for the local community to come together and enjoy a night of live music.