TORTUGA Festival organisers and performers are adding the final touches to the daring new arts event as they prepare for tonight's (June 10) opening gala.
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The nine-day festival will be taking place at Westport Park in the 100-year-old art-deco Spiegeltent venue, The Aurora, from June 10-19.
The festival is curated and produced by Port Macquarie locals and circus performing couple Lucy Frost and Gordo Gamsby, who has 13 Guinness World Records to his name.
Mrs Frost said she is expecting a sell-out opening night.
"I think we will sell out tonight for our first opening gala, which is really exciting," she said.
"The tent can hold 450 people, so we should be close to that."
Mrs Frost said she couldn't have picked a better place to hold the festival than right here in Port Macquarie.
"I think this location is really what will make this festival so special," she said.
"We are next to the water with the boats going by, and this beautiful venue with all the lovely outdoor seating areas is just stunning. I can't wait for people to see it."
Port Macquarie locals and visitors can expect a variety of performances, including fire eating, hula hooping and sword swallowing, multi-award winning Head First Acrobats, along with outdoor performances, community workshops and lots more.
Mrs Frost said she wanted to bring their favourite performances to the town and to make sure everyone has an opportunity to come along and see the festival.
"Our background is in the circus, and we wanted to bring some of our favourite acts here for the local community," she said.
"A lot of festivals we have worked at usually run for a whole month, and what's great about long festivals like this is it brings the town to life for a longer life-span.
"Most festivals are one-day events which might not work with everyone's schedule, so we really wanted to give Port Macquarie a chance to see everything we have to offer."
Mrs Frost said she is excited to get the festival underway with tonight's opening gala.
"I'm really looking forward to the opening night, it's a big deal for us," she said.
"Gordo and I have been talking about doing an event like this for about five years and we've been planning this for a year, so it's been a long time coming.
"For the last two years, there really haven't been any events, you know, you couldn't connect with people, you couldn't see shows and you couldn't hang out with your community, so it just feels really important to do this and to share what we love with the community."
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