Growing up in a rural town can be very boring for young kids. Dalby Youth Council (DYC) want to change this. DYC is comprised of kids who want to want to create a ‘youth space’ in their cotton-and-crop-industry dominated community. Because high volume fundraising is needed to create anything these days (even a space for youth!), Hoogie was born.
1997
In 1997, DYC staged the inaugural Hoogie at a local leagues club, with a lineup of local bands. Hoogie 97 headliner was Faunabeta, a collection of Dalby’s finest musicians, who formed the band just two days before the festival. Although attendance was a modest 300, DYC realised the potential for Hoogie to become Queensland’s premier rural music festival.
1998
Hoogie 98 rolled around and brought with it an expanded line up, a new outdoor venue at the Dalby Showgrounds, and another chance to get people on the rural-rock bandwagon. Aiming high, DYC attracted the cream of local and Brisbane music scenes, with acts such as Bulldozer, Girl’s Germs, Cursed Earth and SixFtHick. Faunabeta returned once again, and attendance reached a respectable 800.
1999
Hoogie 99 was bigger and better, with DYC snaring their first high radio rotation band as a headliner. Screamfeeder was the band, ably supported by Beaverloop, Muzzy Pep, Pretty Violet Stain and Blowhard; and local bands Rawdon Eakus, Magnus and Red Entrance. Hoogie alumni who returned for 1999 were Girl’s Germs, Cursed Earth, SixFtHick and Faunabeta.
Hoogie 99 was bigger in every aspect and metamorphosed into a multicultural event with an international food fair, Samoan fire dancers and Aboriginal musicians. Expansion meant the addition of an extra stage and, consequently, more bands were booked. Hoogie 99 added extreme sports to its bill, with the introduction of BMX and Skateboarding competitions.
The theme of the whole day is really that dogs do know how to rock out (hence joint headline band the fauves and their ditty "dogs are the best people").
Springfield had Jebediah Springfield, Brisbane had Governor Brisbane, Toowoomba's Berghoffer Stadium had Clive Berghoffer and Dalby once had a dog that barked out melodic woofs every Saturday afternoon in October between the year of 1880 and 1883. His name was Hoogie which in gibberish means "dog that rocks".
This festival pays homage to that rockin' dog.
Hoogie was actually an English Sheep Dog and a big one at that. He was the dog of one of the relatives of the town Mayor Warwick Geisel. This dog was often confused for some sort of creature other than a dog and due to the closeness in time to the ice ages, after all, it was the late 1880's (you know they wearing big shoulder pads under their tasseled and tied loose shirts and shiny eye patches). Patrons at the pub where Hoogie entertained resigned to the fact that he looked more like a Woolly Mammoth than a dog and hence, referred to him as Hoogie the woolly mammoth. Also, the stage is a big one (40ft by 34ft).
This stage was converted quite some time ago by the Dalby Town Council (bless their soul) and was instantly put on the market for hiring. One of the first jobs that were on offer was for a free Tibet concert but the catch was that the gig was actually in Tibet. Not to be deterred, the council decided that jobs were few and far between so they hired a barge and sailed to India with this former truck trailer.
Three weeks of traveling heralded the arrival on the Nepal/Tibet border where the concert was to be held. They set up and whilst their backs were turned, one of the local inhabitants, a Hairy Yak decided to make the stage her new home and could not be budged. The concert could not go ahead and the Yak returned to Dalby to live until her death from old age. This stage still holds that distinctive Yak-like smell.
The Sarsbar is run by local character/identity Simon Waterworth who possesses a brown stain that is often mistaken for a moustache due to his insatiable desire to drink Sarsparella, hence the name Sars. He also holds an equally strong passion with his great mate and confidant (other than his wife Monners) Janita Cullen for the forgotten Art of working with String,
Hammer, Masonite and a splash of creativity. This stage will pay homeage to one of Dalby's stalwarts, his ardor with string art and his taste for a fizzy drink. This stage will be intimate and located right near the Sarsbar.
