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You've heard it before: Business at the front, party at the back.
It's a phrase you'll hear a lot if you're venturing to the NSW Hunter region this weekend - Kurri Kurri, in particular.
It is, of course, the start of Mulletfest 2021 ... the quirky little idea to raise spirits - and a few bob, it must be said - that somehow resonated, first with Australians, and then around the world.
Last Mulletfest there were 258 entrants, from not just Australia and New Zealand, but also Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland and the United States.
If you want to know what Mulletfest is like, I dropped in last year for a couple of hours and here's my report. I hope you can tell, I had a great time. It's a laugh.
But this COVID-hit year, like everything else, it's a little different. Social distancing, crowd limits, border closures, quarantine for overseas travellers ... there's an air of uncertainty about an event that has gone from strength to strength in its three years.
Nonetheless the brains behind Mulletfest, Laura Johnson has a few plans up her sleeve. And you wouldn't underestimate her ... everything she has tried with Mulletfest has been a winner.
How about this? Midway through last year a Croatian film crew that does a television series on the various festivals from around the world spent a week at the Chelmsford Hotel doing a piece on Mulletfest. Their previous episode had been on the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona.
You know you've made it when you're sitting alongside the Running of the Bulls which, if Google is doing the right thing, started in the 13th century.
I'm not saying Mulletfest is quite on that standing yet, but hey, one has been going three years, one 800 years. Not bad.
But whatever this Mulletfest holds, you can be sure the pub will have a buzz about it, that there will be an overriding sense of fun and the beer will be flowing. And remember, a chunk of the proceeds goes towards the Mark Hughes Foundation.
So really, it's a case of fun at the front, and even more fun at the back.
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