Fans In Ute Heaven

Newcastle Herald

Wednesday February 22, 2006

Chris Watson

Country fans love their utes, and at The Entrance they will be on

show from best custom to best feral.

What is it about country music

fans and their utes? Whenever

there?s a country music festival

there?s a ute show nearby. And not

just ?pretty? utes, we?re talking the

ferals, paddock-bashers so dented the

owners tow them to events.

They even turn up in country songs,

almost as often as broken hearts and

old yella dogs.

?I saw the ute

?I heard the voice

?I knew I had to make her mine

?Shiny and red, on the show room

floor

?I scratched my name on the dotted

line . . .? sings Lee Kernaghan in his

song Baptise The Ute, before going on

to take his ?brand-new baby? through

a ?big old mud hole?.

Whatever the link is, both music

and ute fans will be catered for on the

Central Coast festival Sunday.

The Ute Show, held this year at the

Lakeside Shopping Centre from 10am

to 4pm, has been a part of the festival

for the last three years.

It has been growing every year,

according to show organiser Barry

Dickerson, also known in country

music circles as Boot Hill with his group

the Grasshopper Guts Jug Band, and

his attitute to the link between country

music and utes is simple: ?Utes and

country go together - that?s what they

were invented for.?

?Last year we had over 50 utes, this

year we expect over 80,? he says, adding

that last year crowds at the show

numbered around 2000.

?The show is in good walking distance

of the rest of the events, and at

least 30 per cent to 40 per cent of the

Sunday festival crowd wander through

the ute show.?

Anyone can enter their ute - with a

$10 entry fee - in the six prize categories

of the show: best custom ute, best

restored ute, best work ute, best feral

ute, best chick?s ute and best 4x4 ute.

The most interest is usually in the

best custom and best restored sections,

according to Dickerson, with

some of the entrants in the feral section

pretty rough - ?there?s mud and

dust all over them with a couple of VB

cartons chucked in the back?.

And, in case you were wondering,

some do turn up with a blue cattle dog

perched in the rear.

Last year there was people?s choice

voting to decide the section winners,

but this year decisions will be made by

judging panels.

There will - not surprisingly - also be

country music at the display, with Alby

Pool on the Ute Show stage at 10 am

and Rob Wilson on stage at 1pm.

For more information:

www.theentrance.org

© 2006 Newcastle Herald

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