Berry will Extend the Weekend in an innovative campaign to encourage visitors to stay longer outside the village’s peak holiday periods.

Targeting Thursdays and Sundays as a way of bookending the traditional Friday and Saturday night busy period for Berry’s hospitality venues, the campaign will be delivered through A Day Well Spent, a four-part, multi-venue live music series running from February to June.

High-calibre touring acts and standout regional talent across genres including country, jazz and blues, indie, funk and soul will light up venues across Berry.

Berry secured $200,000 in grant funding through the NSW Government’s Uptown grant program to fund the initiative, joining Nowra, Huskisson and Sussex Inlet among the first regional communities selected.

Precinct coordinator Kate Dezarnaulds said the campaign was the result of a grassroots effort by people who care deeply about the historic village.

“Two years ago a bunch of passionate business owners in town, still struggling to put back together the successful business models that they had before Covid, came together under the auspices of the Berry Chamber of Commerce and Tourism when I was the president and we went through the NSW Uptown accelerator program.

“It's been a project which has been two years in the works. We spent about six months together as a group going to all these amazing workshops and trying to put our finger on exactly what it is that were the barriers to vibrancy and sustainability for hospitality businesses in Berry and what might be the things that we could work together to be able to shift the dial on.

“We managed to get all of our ducks in a row and put together a pretty compelling case and we were very lucky to be one of the first regional towns to be recipients of $200,000 worth of funding, which is unheard of levels of funding support for place-based initiatives that are not directed to councils.”

Berry Showground hosted two Red Hot Summer Tour concerts, headlined by iconic acts like Crowded House, Paul Kelly, Missy Higgins and The Waifs, in recent months but the Extend the Weekend campaign is aimed at small-scale events to help local business so that the tourism spend stays locally.

“One of the challenges of big festivals is that they bring fly in, fly out money so this is designed to be a regular, low pulse Injection of funding and support for existing businesses in town so that the benefits of events are not something that sits with city-based businesses and and food trucks that don't even come from the region,” Dezarnaulds added.

“The economic benefits flow directly to the bricks and mortar businesses that really make up the regular character of a town.”

The Thursday night and Sunday concept is designed to create new windows for local business operators to cash in on Berry’s widespread appeal.

“The reason we did Thursday and Sunday is that Berry’s already sold out on the weekend and what we really need for our operators is for them to be able to have people getting back in the habit of catching up with mates or going out on a date night on Thursday night, rebuilding that muscle memory of having fun.

“We need our visitors that come on the weekend to have a real reason to stay one more night so extend their weekend with a Sunday night stay, have a chance to live a bit like a local and make the most of a long weekend in Berry.

“Thursday nights will tend to be focused on restaurants and bars and Sundays will be on the Southern Hotel and the Berry Hotel.

“It's up for the participating hospitality venues to decide what is supportive of their operations and what will give them a bit of courage and motivation to extend their hours or to try something new and to do that with with both the logistical funding and marketing and promotional support that the current campaign brings

“My job as the district coordinator is to make sure that we spend the money in accordance with the grant conditions, really build the spirit of collaboration and possibility between all of the different venues and put a bit of optimism and energy back into a hospitality and events scene that's really struggled since Covid to re-find its mojo.”

The series will launch next Thursday (February 19) and the following Sunday with a Country-themed weekend, celebrating Berry’s agricultural roots with a contemporary edge.

There will be Thursday night performances by Alex Clark, Loki Hines, Solo West and Amber Kenny and a major daytime Sunday session across multiple venues, headlined by award-winning New Zealand artist Jenny Mitchell and Jacob Fitzgerald & The Electric City.

Sunday’s line-up also features local favourites The Freewheelers, Tropical Strength and South Coast singer Grace Mae, who has kicked on at the Tamworth Academy of Country Music.

Berry’s second event will be Jazz and Blues on 19 and 22 March, followed by an Indie theme on 21 and 24 May, then a Funk and Soul extended weekend on 18 and 21 June.

More information at extendtheweekend.berry.org.au.