What a fabulous event again in Merimbula for the 10th Sapphire Coast Rock n Rodders Festival. It was hosted by Club Sapphire early in March but, as in the last 10 years, it was principally organised by Lyndon & Kerry with assistance from the local Merimbula R&R club. The weather in this seaside holiday town located in NSW South Coast as usual was fantastic with sunny sky during the whole weekend, and mild evening temperature which makes it perfect for rock n roll dancing.

This year, we again have Lyndon's band, Shadoogie, which was a household R&R band in Melbourne for many years before he moved away to live in Merimbula. Also performing on the 3 day event were the Fender Benders and the Honky Tonk Rockers. Shadoogie started off the festival playing to a capacity crowd on Friday evening. This was followed by the Saturday night dance with Shadoogie and the Honky Tonk Rockers playing in the main dance hall and the Fender Benders in the smaller room upstairs. Sunday night was the dinner dance with Fender Benders and the Honky Tonk Rockers and finished off with the jam session featuring all 3 bands on stage. The jam session has always been the highlight of the evening as patrons gathered around at the front of the stage to soak up the atmosphere and admire the talent on display as the 3 bands played as one. Lyndon even pulled a "band reunion" surprise on Sunday when he got his old band mates including Artie Shugg (ex Atomic Hi Tones and now with the Jump Devils) from 30 years ago to come on stage to perform a couple of songs.

There were dance classes and dance demo plus a "Jack n Jill" dance competition. Also on Sunday morning, classic cars and hot rods gathered for a hot rodders show. For those who wanted more to do, there was a food & wine market on Lake Merimbula's foreshore on Sunday morning or you could enjoy walking the whole section of the Merimbula Board walk which has a fantastic bush land scenery along with the beauty & serenity of Lake Merimbula.

This year's festival was the tenth in a row and Lyndon and Kerry have done a fantastic job in organizing it, year after year. Well done to Lyndon & Kerry. Well done also to the Sapphire Club for hosting it plus all the bands that have participated in this festival. I believe this year might be the last time that Lyndon & Kerry are going to host the festival. It has been an incredible success and whether the festival continues in its present form, only time will tell. I have always enjoyed attending the festival the few times I have been able to make it.

I took a few videos on the weekend but unfortunately they didn't come up well due to sound issues. I have compiled a video instead using some of the pictures I took during the weekend. Hope it will give you some ideas of the festival activities.