On the weekend of the 4/5th May we drove out of Parkes, along the Bogan Way (for a laugh, we strongly encourage you to click on the link and watch this video) to the small town of Trundle, NSW for the ABBA Festival.

The Rhonda Burchmore/Lara Mulcahy concert kicked off the weekend which was superb and a great start to all things ABBA.

The local vicar, Rev Brian Schmalkuche, dressed in the fashion of the 70’s, held a Wedding Vow Renewal Ceremony for anybody attending the festival.  As it is our 12th wedding anniversary on the 27th of May, we decided to take part and renew our vows. It was a lovely, moving, quirky ceremony and we all sang along to the ABBA song, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do!

Approximately 5000  people attended on the Saturday and we were entertained by a wide selection of ABBA/Swedish/70’s costumes. The oldest participant and winner of the women’s section of the catwalk competition was the most beautiful 85 yr old lady. She also joined us and 2997 others in the world record attempt of the most number of people dancing to Dancing Queen, what fun that was! The finale of the evening was a concert by Bjorn Again – World Famous ABBA Tribute Show who were superb.

Trundle – is a very interesting town and unique in the way the local community try to protect their town from decline. The ABBA Festival is just one project, if you are interested in knowing more, there is a video series you could watch. When its population dipped below 400 in 2010, Trundle announced it would rent vacant houses for $1 in a bid to entice young families to the town. Click on the following link if you would like to watch the documentary – Trundle Tree Change.