USUALLY Easter is a hectic time for Dashville chief Matt Johnston.
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There's little moment to spare for traditional family festivities. Rather his Lower Belford bushland property is a hub of activity.
There's stages to be built, camping grounds to be cleared, and other infrastructure to be prepared.
All in readiness for Dashville's biggest event of the year; the annual three-day Gum Ball music festival, which is generally held weeks after the Easter holidays.
However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dashville will be hauntingly silent on April 24 to 26.
"I guess I'm trying to look at it positively and that I'm normally not so slowed down this time of the year," Johnston says. "It's usually pretty full on in April getting ready for Gum Ball.
"I'm poking about at the moment and embracing it for what it's worth."
When it became apparent that this year's Gum Ball would be torpedoed by coronavirus, he quickly searched for an alternative.
The answer was combining Gum Ball with sister event, the alt-country and Americana-themed Dashville Skyline, as Sky Ball. A five-day festival running from October 1 to 5 over the long weekend.
The first three days, Thursday to Saturday, will focus on Gum Ball music - which ranges from rock, electronic, folk, blues and funk - before the country of Skyline takes over on Sunday and Monday.
"Five days of operation is gonna be a test, but it'll give people an opportunity to completely indulge in the experience and chill out," Johnston says.
"Here's hoping when October comes around we're all able to do that and it'll be exactly what the doctor ordered."
Johnston is confident the majority of acts booked for Gum Ball - which included The Church, The Beautiful Girls, Harts and Dyson Cloher Stringer - will perform at the five-day Sky Ball music festival in October.
Several of the international artists like Canadian singer-songwriter Frazey Ford and Irish singer Susan O'Neill, are unlikely to perform due to border closures.
"Other than that, most of the bands look like they're coming back," he says.
"Once we get through the process of programming those bands into the Sky Ball format we can look at adding the different bits and pieces and creating that mesh of the two festivals.
"It's going to be interesting. There's little identities in both events.
"There's lots of cross overs and similarities between Gum Ball and Dashville Skyline, but they both have their own relative identities in terms of lay out and music and activities.
"We've got to work out how we can get the flow right."
However, the cancellation of Gum Ball has had a financial cost. Johnston was unable to provide refunds to all ticket-holders.
They have since been given ticket transfers to Sky Ball, or if they're unable to attend, they will be offered vouchers to be used at future Dashville events.
"It's not to say that's an ideal scenario," Johnston says. "A lot of people would see it as an open gift voucher for down the track and that's fine, and then there's others who are struggling financially.
"The response we got out of all of that was overwhelmingly positive, even thought there are a lot of people struggling and uncertain.
"We managed to get through it easier because a lot of people felt the struggle we're all going through and wanted to support us and see us there in the end. We're very fortunate we have a great audience."
Dashville will also host the return of Thrashville on September 12. Johnston had planned to take the heavy metal and hard rock festival on the road with Victorian and Queensland legs before COVID-19 struck.
However, it's still unknown whether Thrashville and Sky Ball will even be permitted to proceed in spring.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned this week that social distancing measures could remain in place until a vaccine is found, which could take 18 months.
"We've got to look forward to the horizon that will eventually be there even though we don't know for sure if October will open up the opportunities to let people head back out again," Johnston says.
"We've got to do it anyway, and if it happens to go on longer than we hope, then we'll cross that bridge when it comes.
"I think it's important to not sit idle and wait too much because that'll send us all crazy. It's gonna be a lot of work to repair the change in proceedings and to carry on, so it's best to get going for when it can happen."
Tickets are on sale for Sky Ball through www.dashville.com.
Josh Leeson
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
