Rochester Mural Festival returns

By Shannon Colee

Mar 15, 2024

Hard work: Judy and Peter Anderson have organised the Rochester Mural Festival for years. Photo: Steve Huntley Photo by steve Huntley

Rochester is going to be full of dreamers next month as the town welcomes back a popular community event that was cancelled last year due to the floods.

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Rochester Mural Festival co-organiser Judy Anderson said they were excited for the event to make its return.

Helping hand: Volunteers like Graeme Dellar play a huge part in running the Rochester Mural Festival each year. Photo: Supplied Photo by Liz Dellar

Even more so this year as the festival was initially created in 2011 to boost residents’ spirits after the devastating floods they had just experienced, making this year’s event just as important.

“The results of the 2022 flood were that we just didn’t have the people in Rochester to volunteer (for the 2023 festival),” she said.

“It’s an exciting time for the town because many locals come down each day, have a bit of a chat and look at what’s been happening. So it’s an event that the whole town can get involved in as well as a lot of visitors.”

Previous mural: Reggie Rankin took part in the Rochester Mural Festival in 2021. Photo: Supplied

The festival takes place between April 7 and 14 and involves eight artists painting murals based on a set theme.

The eight talented artists travelling from near and far to take part are Marco Pennacchia, Ana Armillas, Chris Duffy, Kerry Nicholson, Maryanne Jenkins, Helen English, Steve Monk and Gren Freeman.

They work on the murals every day for a week under the watchful eye of visitors and spectators. This year’s theme is ‘I have a dream’.

People’s pick: Festival visitors get to vote for the People's Choice award at the voting tree mural. Photo: Supplied Photo by Liz Dellar

“We thought it was a theme that might really inspire people and draw some creative ideas out of people, especially after the last few years,” Ms Anderson said.

“It’s hard to think of a different theme that will appeal. The year before this year, we had a theme called ‘paint us a song’, which seems to have been our most popular and successful theme.”

There is also a community competition called the ‘Rochybalds’ where anyone can purchase a canvas for $5 and take part. The closing entry date for that is March 30.

Winner: Kerry Nicholson won the Rochester Mural Festival in 2021. Photo: Supplied

The traditional opening night dinner will also happen again this year, with tickets already on sale.

“That is at the 4R Club ... and a local harvest taste company caters for it, and the artists unveil their mini murals and talk about what their mural is all about. So that’s always a really exciting night,” Ms Anderson said.

"The tickets for that are available at the newsagency, Dingwalls, and they are $35 per person.”