Despite missing out on cracking the 2014 World Record Attempt for ‘largest ukulele ensemble’, Cairns Ukulele Festival organisers are officially laying claim to causing a record number of smiles on the faces of the 5000 people estimated to have attended ‘the happiest festival in the world’.

Festival stars including Daniel Ho, Abe Langrimas Jr, Bartt Warburton, Ryo Montgomery and Nino and Gogo took to the stage for the attempt, led by Mike Jackson and the Cairns based Bad Boys and Girls of Uke, which saw 1100 strummers rocking out to the Maverick’s Dance the Night Away.

“According to one of our Facebook fans, we may not have broken the record for the largest ukulele ensemble, but we did break the record for the number of smiles” Festival Director Gaby Thomasz said.

The Festival gives everyone a chance to experience stardom with community acts like TUGS (Tableland Ukulele Group), HUMPS (Harvey Bay Ukulele Musical Pickers and Strummers), BUMS (Brisbane Ukulele Musicians Society), SCUM (Sunshine Coast Ukulele Masters), and the Panton Hills Ukulele Club strutting their stuff on stage at Fogarty Park.

72 members of the Central Coast Ukulele Club (NSW) also made the pilgrimage to Cairns as did New Zealand’s Paculeles, a small group of nurses from the Post Anaesthetic Care Unit at Christchurch Hospital who formed the group to cheer themselves up after the earthquake.

Gaby said that one of the many lovely facets of the Festival is the connection made between people from all over Australia and the world each year at Festival. “I love watching the personal and professional friendships that have grown over the 5 years we have run the Cairns Ukulele Festival”, she said.

The Cairns Ukulele Festival would like to acknowledge the hard work of the big number of dedicated volunteers that worked tirelessly the past week.