The small community of Ridgelands is eagerly preparing to host Australian country music sensation Fanny Lumsden on her cross regional country halls tour.
ARIA award, and eight time Golden Guitar winner Fanny Lumsden will be showcasing her talents in her eighth annual country halls tour this year. Bringing live music back to the bush, Ms Lumsden has brought extreme joy to 150 halls and communities nationwide.
In true community spirit, the Ridgeland's Hall was one of 26 locations selected to host Ms Lumsden and her band, The Thrillseekers for a night of fun, which will run on August 20.
Like many beloved community halls, Ridgeland's is more than 100 years old, and was originally built as a dance hall for the local community, even hosting the local school for a period of time in 1922.
Residing in the small locality just north of Rockhampton, the hall is operated and maintained by seven local committee members who dedicate their time to ensure the hall remains an integral part of the surrounding community.
Newest committee member, and secretary of the Ridgelands hall committee Ellie Carter believes country halls are a great asset and can be used for so many different social events.
"Currently the hall hosts the annual community Christmas party and school concert which is great for the community," she said.
"I definitely think it should be utilised more regularly to bring the community together, which is why I jumped at the opportunity to secure the hall for this event."
Ms Carter had seen Ms Lumsden perform at Byfield in 2017 and thought she was fantastic.
"I knew she did an annual country halls tour and thought it would be cool to nominate for it, so once the committee gave me the go ahead I applied," she said. "I didn't think we would get it but we have been lucky enough to be selected."
The committee has seats to house 100 people, but is expecting well over this amount on the night.
"If we get a great turn-out on the night It'll mean the committee won't have to run multiple events this year to fundraise for the hall," Ms Carter said.
"We have recently been lucky enough to be awarded a grant for some major building work that needed to be done, but there is always more jobs to keep an old building useable and safe."
As the newest committee member, Ms Carter has recently moved away for work and is strongly urging more young people in the area to show an interest in joining up.
"Our committee is ageing, with people who have been members for a long, long time. I would ideally want to step down but nobody else has put their hand up to join," she said.
"Without a committee to raise funds for the upkeep of the hall it will quickly fall into disrepair and will no longer be able to be used, which would be very sad."
The Ridgelands committee is hoping Ms Lumsden's event will encourage people from outside the community to come out to show their support and join in on a night of fun.
Tickets are now open, and people can secure themselves a spot at the Ridgelands event here.
Other Queensland locations that were selected to be a part of the country halls tour included Gympie, Mackay, Mareeba, Townville and Mondure.
