Over four days and nights in late Feb 2020 the SALT District rang and clanged with cheers, snorts and laughter from the all new Salty Buskers Club festival.
Primo acts, sharp wit and high jinks kept audiences of all ages captivated in the specially erected outdoor theatre in SALT Square, while tasty eats and drinks from Little High Eatery and the district’s amazing cafes kept everyone amply fed and watered. \
In typical SALT style, creative thinking on behalf of the SBC organiser Rod Thomson (owner of Base Woodfired Pizza etc) meant you could even knock back a lemonade and enjoy crowd pleasers like Christchurch legend MulletMan from the top deck of Mr Thompson’s beautifully converted classic truck bar.
It was basically a free event, with koha donations. And it was all well thought out. Although shows were designed to provide wholesome fun for the whole fam, the liberal sprinkling of subtle, edgy jokes went reassuringly over the heads of the younguns but hit the spot for the bigguns.
Then once kids were safely in bed a raft of stand-up comics came out to play, as Dux Central served up cold beers and hot late-night comedy of an entirely different kind.
In all, the Salty Buskers Club showcased two dozen homegrown and international performers – some very funny, clever humans. It takes guts, talent, skills, a knack for timing and eleventy billion hours of practice to pull off mind-and-body-bending tricks from three metres up a pole. Or deliver jokes that get a laugh. Or do both. Either way, one false move and you fall flat on your face.
Which wasn’t an issue for the festival. The success of the Salty Buskers Club has secured its return for 2021. Watch this space.
Katy Clook is a copywriter and co-owner of Friday Creative, the studio that designed both the Salty Buskers Club creative and the SALT District website.
