Rhonda Brain OAM wanted to do 'something crazy' for her 80th birthday.
"Some people celebrate by jumping out of planes but I've always had a secret wish and now that I am old enough to not care what anyone thinks, I wanted to busk at the Elvis Festival," she said.
The founder of Paint The Town REaD and former Parkes Public School principal turned 80 on January 11.
Much to her delight, three of her octogenarian friends from her teachers’ college days Jan Kay, Marg Price and Pat Deady all came to Parkes to celebrate with her.
With Rhonda being the ‘baby octo’ of the group, these three golden oldies asked her what 'fun thing' she wanted to do for her birthday.
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"I read in the festival information that in the busking, any quirky thing goes and I thought that is crazy enough for me," Rhonda said.
Before any of her friends could refuse, Rhonda registered for busking at the festival.
And before she knew it, she and her friends were standing in Chamberlain Square in front of the NAB on her birthday on Saturday at midday, setting up for a busking performance.
A small crowd gathered.
"I'm not sure how long we'll sing for, I might only last 10 minutes," Rhonda laughed prior to the busk.
Being concerned the voices of four 'oldies', as Rhonda described, wouldn’t hold out, Parkes virtuosos Sherree Rosser, Ros Bell, Barb Newton and the ukulele players, Coralie and Bob Gould and Kaitlyn Strudwick were the backing group.
And they all did well, receiving applause from those who stopped to watch.
Two Paint The Town REaD Sydney members, who were already coming to the festival to participate in the parade and gather ideas for a children’s book on The Reading Bug visits Parkes Elvis Festival, volunteered to join in.
“These two are as crazy as me,” Rhonda said.
Money collected from their busking tips will go towards funding the book.
