Gippy Rocks hosted its fifth year of Rock n Roll Festival in Sale last weekend and it was a very enjoyable weekend of R&R music, dancing and competition. The weather was fantastic all weekend. It was also my first time attending a R&R event in Sale. Gippy Rocks is a charity event with all profits going to charity and for a very good cause. Well done to Gippy Rocks....

The festival started off on Friday night with the Cadillac Drifters playing at the Sale Memorial Hall. It is a huge hall with one of the biggest dance floors in Victoria. It was well decorated with balloons and streamers and it was quite obvious that the Gippy Rocks organisers have gone to a lot of trouble to make everyone feeling welcome and ensuring the hall exudes the R&R 1950's feel and vibe. On Saturday, there was two bands - Rockin' Tones playing their classic jukebox tunes and the Silverados from Adelaide with a slightly more upbeat "rockabilly" tunes. I enjoyed both bands and the contrast in style between the two bands is something I find quite pleasing.

There was also the Regional Gippsland R&R dance competition on Saturday afternoon. The format is varied which included a "Jack & Jill" fun event which is open to everyone to participate. There were also other fun events like "boy-boy, girl-girl" event as well as an "adult-child" dance event. Most of the finals were danced and completed in the afternoon with the exception of the last event which was the "open" event. The final dance off took place during the Saturday dance night.

On Sunday, it was a "picnic" day at the Canal Reserve with three bands - the Rockin' Tones, Silverados and finally another Melbourne band, the Jump Cats. There was classic car and hotrods display plus food and merchandise stores. Two dance floors were laid specially in the park for dancers.

I highly recommend Gippy Rocks as a rock n roll festival to attend. For those travelling by car from Melbourne, it is an easy drive of just over 2 hours. Lots of accommodation available in Sale plus scenic walks and sightseeing at the Port of Sale.

Here are some videos from the Gippy Rocks weekend......