The Volunteers Who Built Caltowie’s Music Festival From the Ground Up
Once a year, a bare paddock in the Mid-North of South Australia transforms into one of the state’s most loved regional music festivals, Caltowie Chilled Out ’n’ Fired Up (COFU).
At its heart, Caltowie Music Festival began as one bloke’s idea to get live music into the region and raise funds for mental health.
But before the first band even strums a chord, there’s a stage to build, marquees to peg down, power to run, and food to prepare. There’s a shearing shed full of borrowed furniture, a water truck on standby, and generators humming. And there’s a crew who’ve already been on site for days.
One of them is Mardi Catford.
From Paddock To Festival – Mardi Runs Caltowie’s Green Room
Jamestown local, Mardi, has been involved since the early days, when the stage was the back of a truck and the crowd felt more like a paddock party than a festival.
Now she runs the green room.
She organises accommodation, sources furniture and fridges, fills food requests and makes sure every line of a band’s rider is met, even the whacky ones.
“One band wanted a book on aquatic bird life,” she laughed. “We trawled Rundle Mall and found one. I’m proud to say I was the first one to fill their full rider.”
The festival has grown from a crowd of around 250 to more than 1,000 through the gates. For Mardi, the scale has changed, but the purpose hasn’t.
“I love it. I look forward to it every year. And raising money for mental health is such an important issue.”
Go Behind The Scenes with Scott Reubenicht
While Mardi looks after the artists, Scott Reubenicht is firmly behind the scenes.
A Quorn local and co-owner of Echo Road Audio, he joined in year two and now volunteers his time to help handle production.
The crowd sees the lights and sound. Scott sees the long days that start midweek and roll through to Saturday afternoon.
“Behind the scenes is immense,” he said. “People are on site working flat strap.”
He says Caltowie is his favourite gig.
“The festival feels like a thousand of your closest mates you haven’t met yet.”
– Scott Reubenicht
“Festivals everywhere are under pressure,” he admits. “But Caltowie keeps coming back.”
The network of support is huge. That’s the main reason COFU keeps returning year after year.”
Ben Lehmann – Jack of All Trades, Master of the COFU Bar
For Ben Lehmann, COFU is practically in his backyard.
A fifth-generation farmer who lives just two kilometres from the site, he grew up mates with founder Ben Van Boekel.
These days he’s a jack of all trades, running the bar and doing whatever needs doing.
“It’s put Caltowie on the map. It’s a bloody good show,” says the proud Caltowie local.
“Not only are we raising money for a great cause, it also helps you shake off your worries and stress and makes you feel young again. People are coming here and helping for the right reasons.”
Spend five minutes with the crew and it’s clear this isn’t just about music.
It’s about people backing their town. It’s about connection in a region where neighbours look out for each other. And it’s about mental health, a cause that runs deep in rural communities.
When The Music Stops at Caltowie
When the generators are switched off, and the stage is pulled down, the paddock slowly returns to what it was.
There’s relief, exhaustion, sore feet, maybe a mild hangover, and a quiet sadness.
For one weekend, that bare paddock becomes something bigger. A gathering point. An anchoring moment. A thousand people sharing music in a town that swells from fifty locals to more than a thousand in a matter of hours.
It only happens because around 85 volunteers, including those from Apex, Lions, Progress Associations, the CFS, and more, show up year after year.
Country towns don’t run on big budgets.
They run on people who put their hands up.
And in Caltowie, once a year, they show up in force.
Chilled out.
Fired up.
And bloody proud of it.
Caltowie fires up again on March 21, 2026, with headline act, Gyroscope.
Find out all you need to know here.
