More than 300 people came together for a Mount Gambier music festival to raise awareness of mental health and suicide prevention.
The inaugural Close 2 Home Festival, held at the Mount Gambier Bowls Club, also raised funds for the cause.
Close 2 Home Festival committee chairperson Natasha Little said members had worked hard for eight months in the lead up to the event, which was well supported by local businesses and grant donations from the State Government and OneFortyOne.
“With the main goal of raising essential funds for mental health and suicide prevention for the Limestone coast region, a target of $10,000 was set,” she said.
“All the funds are going to split between four local business in Headspace – Mount Gambier, Four Reasons Why, Mount Gambier & Districts Suicide Prevention Group and the SE Junction ensuring that all the funds raised stay within the region.”
Ms Little said the event was very successful, with several acts headlining the day.
“There were people across the whole venue throughout the whole nine hours of the event with over 350 attendees throughout the day, which included all the volunteers and artists, the atmosphere was amazing,” she said.
“As a committee we have decided to keep our donation link open until the end of October, which is Mental Health Awareness month, so if anyone would like to give a donation to help us reach our target of $10,000 please go to the following link and dig deep for our local community.”
Fellow committee member Michael Wilson said there was plenty of good feedback from both the artists and those attending.
“It was an incredible day. It was great to see the community support such an important cause, and they were treated to some awesome live music in return,” he said.
Headline act Taylor Henderson said being a part of the festival was an “amazing experience”
“Meeting the Mount Gambier community and seeing how music brought everyone together to support an amazing event and raise much needed funds for local suicide prevention and mental health was something truly amazing,” he said.
Planning will start soon for the 2023 event.
