Toyota Park takes shape ahead of Tamworth Country Music Festival kick-off on Friday

Add to that 230 panels of LED screen, 120,000 watts of amplifying power and a 31-strong crew, and the stage is set for the 2018 Tamworth Country Music Festival (TCMF).

The CBD’s main entertainment arena, Toyota Park, was starting to take shape over the weekend.

Four semi-trailer loads of production equipment rolled in on Saturday afternoon to set up the main stage of the 10-day event in Bicentennial Park. 

On Sunday morning, crews were working to construct the giant stage, which is set to host some of the country music industry’s biggest names over the duration of the festival.

Among them was Eclipse Lighting and Sound production manager Pete Barton, who was in the country music capital from Canberra for his sixth TCMF set-up.

“We unloaded the trucks on (Saturday afternoon),” Mr Barton said.

“We’ll be setting up today (Sunday) and tomorrow, then production will take us through to Wednesday.

“We’ll then move on to the main street and then do final checks.”

SEE ALSO: Riverside campers count down to TCMF kick-off 

Festival manager Barry Harley told The Leader months of planning would come to fruition for festival organisers this week, as some major CBD roads begin to close to make way for heavy festival infrastructure.

Festival visitors already in the city, and locals, can expect to see the first road closures mid-week.

The Kable Avenue area is expected to be closed from Wednesday, with closures to Peel Street set to follow as the Toyota Fan Zone and Peel Street stages get installed ready for around-the-clock live entertainment.

But with a few days to go, fans won’t have to wait much longer for all the action to kick off, with the official opening concert at Toyota Park to be held at 7pm on Friday night.

The music extravaganza will feature The Voice 2017 winner Judah Kelly, along with country stars Travis Collins, Aleyce Simmonds and 2018 Toyota Star Maker winner Rachael Fahim.

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