CAIRNS UKULELE FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS 2010

The Cairns Ukulele Festival, July 2-4  2010, was a resounding success for the community of Cairns. It was also great fun and a successful event for DF. Duchenne Foundation members and volunteers manned a stall selling our CDs, DVDs, merchandise and raffle tickets both at the Sunday Tanks workshops day and at the public outdoor performances on the Esplanade on Saturday. Thank you Jan & Peter Taylor, Ricky, Rose & Raymond Fazeldeen, Marie Toussaint, Peter Taylor, Chris Roberts and Deb, Doug and Geoff Robins for selling tickets and working on the stall.

Congratulations to Phil Solomon from Jubilee Pocket Qld, who won the MIGM Ukulele designed by Jake Shimabukuro. Our raffle was a success with nearly all tickets sold before the draw. Sydney geneticist, Peter Taylor, drew the raffle on the Esplanade and performed some traditional Hawaiian music. Watch most of Peter's performance on youtube or below.

The Ukulele Art Exhibition drew tremendous press and feedback from the public raising much needed funds for DF. The signature ukulele of the Festival created by author Colin Thompson was auctioned for over $700, with many ukes selling for half as much. Listen to the ABC interview Doug Robins and two of the artists at the Exhibition Launch. Click here to read more and to view the exhibition catalogue which recognised our sponsors: Cairns Regional Council, Mayor Val Schier, Music City Cairns, Cairns Ukulele Club, Piccones IGA, Ad Art Media and the Cairns Regional Gallery. Successful bidders have been notified. Thank you to all our artists who gave generously of their time and talent and to Festival Organizer, Gaby Thomasz who not only 'worked her butt off' for our festival "add ons" but for everyone in the local community and ukulele community.

The Song Still Remains CD sold well, especially when Ukulele Underground musicians who contributed tracks to the CD, performed live on stage and promoted their  latest project for boys and men with Duchenne. Thank you to all the contributors but particularly Jason Arimoto, Matt Dahlberg and Bosko & Honey for autographing the CD at the festival and talking it up. We have stocks of the CD so visit our shop to buy it, or contact Deb if you would like to purchase it wholesale for reselling in your store or business. Read more about this project in conjunction with the Cairns Ukulele Festival.

The World Record Attempt had absolutely nothing to do with Duchenne Foundation but being a part of a group of nearly 700 people playing and singing together was a magical highlight of the festival. The headlining acts, three of whom feature on our "Song Still Remains" album, joined locals in entertaining the crowd who were patiently waiting to be officially counted in the attempt to beat the London world record, which unfortunately still stands - but not by much. Festival goers vow it will be broken next year! Enjoy this amazing performance leading up to the world record attempt.

Lastly view our festival photo album to get a sense of a winter festival in Cairns and the potential awareness raised for Duchenne.