Troy Cassar – Daley returns as official sustainability ambassador for the 2024 Toyota Country Music Festival, Tamworth
05 December 2023
Troy Cassar-Daley, one of Australia’s most celebrated country music stars is back as the Toyota Country Music Festival’s official sustainability ambassador, and he’s calling on the country music community to make environmentally friendly choices during the 2024 festival.
The countdown is on until Australia’s largest live music event kicks off in January, and the nation’s county music capital opens its doors to tens of thousands of fans and visitors.
Mr Cassar-Daley, made a pit stop in Tamworth today to engage with the local community and share advice around sustainable practices, including a special visit to Timbumburi Public School to educate its students on the importance of looking after their region.
“The buzz throughout Tamworth during the festival is absolutely second to none, and we want to make sure that our visitors make sustainable practice a priority throughout their stay because a clean, green region is one of the many things that makes this festival so special,” says Mr Cassar-Daley.
Off his visit to Timbumburi Public School Troy says it’s always fantastic when you have the chance to speak to the next generation about sustainability and the positive impact they can have on the environment.
“You really get to see the care they have for the region, and their enthusiasm towards wanting to build a sustainable future,” says Mr Cassar-Daley.
A proud Gumbaynggir/Bundjalung man, Mr Cassar-Daley has been the Toyota Country Music Festival’s sustainability ambassador for over 23years. As a country music luminary, his love of storytelling through his music has played an important role in winning 40 Golden Guitar Awards throughout his career.
It is this passion for storytelling and his strong connection to the land that has led Mr Cassar-Daley to be a driving force in promoting sustainability throughout the festival and encouraging visitors to make conscious efforts to look after the region throughout their visit.
“It’s so important for visitors to the region to know that even the tiniest steps to reduce their water and energy consumption can make a huge difference when implemented by the hundreds of thousands of people we have in the area across the festival,” says Mr Cassar-Daley.
“Simple things like having shorter showers or turning your air conditioning on a timer go a long way to improving the region’s collective consumption of water and energy.”
Mr Cassar-Daley will once again work closely with Tamworth Regional Council’s sustainability team to promote sustainable practices throughout the 2024 festival.
Tamworth Regional Council’s Waste Sustainability Officer Angela Dodson says that recycling will also be a major focus for the team throughout the festival.
“Each year we ensure the festival CBD is equipped with additional recycling bins to make it easy for our visitors to recycle correctly,” says Ms Dodson.
“Free water refill stations are also available throughout the city to promote reusable bottles and the reduction of single-use plastic water bottles.
The last six months have really highlighted how quickly the region can begin to dry up even after such substantial rainfall over the last couple of years, so as always, we urge visitors to keep water consumption front of mind throughout their stay,” says Ms Dodson.
“Each year we are thrilled to welcome country music fans alike to our region for the festival, and as always we thank everyone for playing a part in keeping the nation’s country music capital nice and tidy.”
Visitors and locals are encouraged to get involved and keep an eye out for the sustainability team’s pop-up station between the 19–23 January in the main festival precinct for a chance to win some merchandise and tickets to Troy’s Welcome to My Fire concert at the Tamworth Regional Entertainment and Conference Centre (TRECC) on Thursday 25 January at 4pm.
Stay up to date with official Toyota Country Music Festival,Tamworth news at www.tcmf.com.au/news, TCMF Facebook and TCMF Instagram.