This year’s Cobargo Folk Festival has been labelled the biggest and best yet. 

Held from February 26-28 in Cobargo, it attracted scores of festival-goers and musicians from Australia and around the world. 

On Monday the festival’s executive director, Zena Armstrong, said they were still crunching numbers, but pre-sale tickets had increased 15 per cent this year and there were more people through the gate compared to last year’s event, which was attended by 3000 people.  

“It was the best festival so far in so many different ways,” she said. 

Those attending enjoyed the Irish ballads of The Rambling Boys, energetic Celtic tunes by The East Pointers, soulful songs by Neil Murray and roaring gypsy brass by The Woohoo Revue. 

The increased attendance showed the little festival on the Far South Coast is becoming well-known, with artistic director Dave Crowden saying he did not have to chase any acts this year, as almost every act applied to play. 

Funding from Destination NSW allowed the festival to do more promotion outside of the Bega Valley this year, which helped get the word out.

“But we don’t want it to get too big because the friendliness and intimacy of the festival is something that people value,” Ms Armstrong said. 

The extra people at the festival tested the Cobargo Showground’s camping capacity, with Ms Armstrong saying the committee would need to look into how to manage the campsites to make them safe and comfortable for future events. 

However, Ms Armstrong said the showground’s new toilets, which had been funded by the Cobargo Showground Trust, Cobargo Show Society and Yuin Folk Club, worked well and there had been plenty of positive feedback about them. 

While she said there was not a typical “folkie” there was a typical folk festival person.

“That person wants to come to a folk festival where there is a friendly vibe and they can connect with friends and family as well as having a fantastic festival experience,” Ms Armstrong said. 

She said the pack up of the festival had been going smoothly and she expected it to be finished on Tuesday.