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Great FitzRoy
Mussel Fest
January 10th 2009
at The Boat Club, Port FitzRoy, Great Barrier Island
Event Organiser: Brett 09 4290 809

2009 Band is Sean Kelly & Friends  Sean Kelly & Friends are

The Celtic Flyers without a drummer.

Featuring Sean Kelly on vocals, guitar, bodhran and whistles,

Julie Grace on fiddle,

Glyn Frewin on bass guitar and filling in for Baz Caitcheon,

Eddie Malone on guitar.

They play a wide range of music from traditional Irish pub music to contemporary interpretations of traditional Irish and Scottish dance tunes to original songs written by Sean Kelly.

Take a tour of the island while you're here.  Depart Port FitzRoy 3pm, returning 7pm.  $40 pp. 

Buses to/from the Festival: Depart Tryphena 9am, 1.30pm, 5.30pm. Depart Port FitzRoy 10.30am, 3pm, 9pm. $40 pp. 

Bookings Essential.  Ph: 09 4290 062  Email

The following article and photographs are courtesy of the Barrier Bulletin, Issue No.493

2008 Mussel Fest - 'Better than ever'

There were lots of good things being said about the conduct of the Mussel Fest this year. The new approach of splitting the festival across the public venues at Port FitzRoy appears to have eased the congestion which has been the subject of criticism previously.

With the Boat Club still the centre for the food stalls, and patrons entertained during the day by 'The Great Brain Robbers' blues band, the ‘Landing Reserve’ became the alcohol free venue for the other stalls, as well as a ‘bouncy bus’ and a huge inflated slide for the kids. It has to be said that some of the kids must have been in their second childhood. Here, the crowd were entertained by 'Sean Kelly and Friends', a great Irish band. (But aren’t they all!). Still more chose to have time out relaxing by the harbour or watched the world go by from picnic tables outside the store.

With the approach of dusk, the Fullers ferry left with its crowd of passengers, and the blues band, but that didn’t seem to make a dent in the numbers at the club, as the Irish band moved on up the hill, showed off their versatility, and really had the place rockin’.