Pom-pom-o-rama: the cuddly entrance to the Gallery.

 (above) Kim discovers that even the eats had a flavour of pom-pom.

‘Dress code: beanie’ was the order of the day for the opening of the touring Alice Springs Beanie Festival at the Bega Valley Regional Gallery last Friday night. And the locals didn’t disappoint (there was even a beanie dress in the audience!)

Introduced by the Mayor, three time festival winner and local resident Debbie Petersen officially launched the exhibition with a show-and-tell of past zany creations in front of a happy mob of dedicated festival fans.

Look, high art this ain’t. But it’s a sweet and seductively quirky soft serve of ground roots reconciliation – where peeps from across the nation are spreading the joy and sharing the love.

Our personal faves were the beautifully restrained and understated numbers made by the Ernabella mob, but there’s something for everyone in this show – not the least being the generous serve of almost vaudevillian entertainment. It’s FUN, and it obviously delivers a huge amount of pleasure.

More snaps of people in silly hats here.