The Coonabarabran Showground was buzzing on Saturday 26 November as people from near and far gathered to attend one of the rural entertainment highlights of the year, the Bungle Rumble.

More than 2,200 people attended the free ticketed event, starting at 2pm Saturday afternoon until 10pm later that evening. The large festival event showcased live music, entertainment, markets and food stalls.

There was no shortage of entertainment for the day, with ten live acts taking their time to wow the crowd on the Bungle Rumble stage.

Music entertainment included Coonabarabran locals Phil Varty and Megan Varty, Better Late Than Never, Monique Bragg, Coonamble's Castlereagh Connection, Coonabarabran Celtic Club bagpipes, Ballz N All, Jasmine Bragg, a cultural welcome dance and headline act Australian rock band The Black Sorrows.

 ABOVE: Coonabarabran local music artist Phil Varty with Black Sorrows lead singer Joe Camilleri. PHOTO: Phil Varty.

Organiser of the Bungle Rumble Kodi Brady, said the free event attracted guests from all over New South Wales.

"We sold over 3,300 tickets and over 2,200 people attended on the day," Mr Brady said.

"We had people come from all over the state including Sydney, the Central Coast, Newcastle, Port Macquarie as well as closer townships including Coonamble, Gilgandra and Dubbo. We had groups of people from every age demographic attend. It was amazing to see so many people from the local community get involved too.".

Castlereagh Connection took the stage at 4:30pm. The family band of four including David Jones Sr, Travis Jones, David Jones Jr and Braydon Dodd entertained the crowd for over an hour. Band Manager and Matriarch Lisa Jones, said the Bungle Rumble team had lined up Castlereagh Connection to play at the event for over a year.

"Last year the boys played at Coonabarabran for the 'Opening of the Plaza'. The community loved them and Bungle Rumble Organiser Kodi Brady approached us and asked the boys if they would be interested in performing at the event. We have been booked in to play for quite a while," Mrs Jones said. 

The boys played both original and cover songs, as well as a tribute song to a great friend and brand new hit by guitarist David Jr.

"The lead singer from Brisbane Blacks, a legendary Indigenous rock band from Brisbane passed away a couple of weeks ago. The Brisbane Blacks visited our home not long ago and the boys had the privilege to jam with them. We paid our respects to him by singing one of their songs 'Mop & The Dropouts'," Mrs Jones said.

"We also sang our traditional language songs including 'Stand By Me', as well as other country, rock and pop covers. David Jr also got to play his original song, called 'Last Song' to finish off our set on stage, which he created alongside Lauren Ryan after he made up a cool guitar riff," she said.

Residents travelled from around the region to see the band perform.

 ABOVE: Castlereagh Connection, as seen on The Voice Kids, played brand new hits to keep the crowd entertained. PHOTO: Coonabarabran Times.

The Black Sorrows took the stage at 8:30pm and the whole showground danced and sang to their hit rock songs including 'Chained to the Wheel', 'Harley & Rose', 'Hold Onto Me' and 'Brown Eyed Girl'.

The band returned to the stage after the crowd chanted "one more song", and brought them one last hurrah for the night.

Bungle Rumble hopes to continue annually.

Mr Brady hopes that with more funding, events like this can continue to bring prosperity and joy to many rural communities.

"Bungle Rumble was supported by a 'Rejuvenating Rural NSW' event funding. We were given $60,000 to run Bungle Rumble," Mr Brady said.

"We would love to continue bringing both local and national talent onto the stage and make Bungle Rumble an annually anticipated event. Entertainment concerts like Bungle Rumble bring local exposure to artists who are very talented. It allows them to get their name out there. We have already started to look for more funding. We know we can pull off an amazing event, but we just need someone to back us.".