Parkes Shire Council’s economic development manager Mike Greenwood has watched with great interest as Dubbo decides whether to push ahead with a festival to rival both the Elvis Festival and Tamworth’s annual country music event.

He said any event would have to start off small, just as the Elvis Festival did back in 1993.

“We started back then with very humble beginnings, a few people involved and no real budget to do anything,” Mr Greenwood said.

“Now we have a public committee as well as council backing, we have funding provided to employ someone to help organise it, we sent two people to Tamworth last year to investigate how it operates, and it is worth about $7 million to our economy.”

Starting small is also vital according to Dubbo stock and station agent Graeme Board, one of the organisers of Dubbo’s annual Beef Spectacular, which will be held next month.

He said in the three years of its existence the cattle event had sprung from humble beginnings to now fitting in nicely to a schedule of various shows in NSW.

But he believes a rural or river-based event will not work in Dubbo.

“The Macquarie River runs from Bathurst to Warren so it isn’t like it belongs solely to Dubbo,” he said.

“We have to look away from that as a focus and we probably need something that will draw a lot of different people so a rural event may not be the go either.

“We are happy with how the Beef Spectacular is progressing but it is in its infancy and if it gets too much bigger it may have to turn into a bi-annual event like Beef Week in Rockhampton.”

The unique nature of the Elvis Festival is something that attracts people, according to Mr Greenwood, who suggested Dubbo think outside the square when it came to any festival it may adopt.

He said a date in the middle of January would be ideal given other events in the area.

“There is a timeframe of a week or 10 days between Elvis and the country music festival which Dubbo could easily tap in to,” he said.

“The Elvis Festival has been coined the ‘Schoolies for the older population’ where they come and have fun. They must have fun to don black wigs and wear leather in the middle of summer and that is the key, it has to be something fun.

“A lot of people may attend both and they will be travelling through Dubbo on their way so if the city had something at that time it would fit into a circuit of festivals for people to attend.”