Last week saw 30 children of all ages up to 18 perform along Baylis Street in front of judges to win their place at the festival. 

One young winner Ivy Simpson will be playing the ukulele, and said she is only fairly new to the talent.

"I only sort of started playing the Ukulele two or three years ago," she said.

"We always go out to the Country Music Festival in Tamworth, and my friends and I put a little band together called The Frimsons, so I took up the ukulele and learnt some cords with Dad's help."

The 13-year-old musician said she had a great time during the competition, and winning was just a bonus.

"It's my first year doing the busking competition here in Wagga, and it was really fun with Mum and Dad and heaps of friends and family standing around watching and supporting me," she said.

"It's actually my birthday on Sunday, so winning and getting to play Saturday is really cool."

Miss Simpson said she will perform I Can't Help Falling In Love With You by Elvis Presley and Oh What a Night at the festival.

Another winner of the busking challenge was 17-year-old Belee Kadmon-Jones, who said music had been a passion of hers for a long time.

"I sing and play the guitar," she said.

"I started playing the guitar since around the time I started secondary schooling but I've been singing since I was a toddler."

Miss Kadmon-Jones participated in last year's competition as well, and said she will perform more modern tunes.

"I'll be playing more contemporary country-pop type songs, and I actually played a few of my own original songs in the competition last week," she said. 

Youth Busking Challenge Coordinator Andrew Puckeridge said this is the second year the competition had run, bringing the community together.

"It's such a good thing for Wagga, even people on the day and passers-by had great things to say," he said.

"It's great to see the talent we have in the community."

Mr Puckeridge said it allowed all sorts of talents to be appreciated.

"What I love about it is looking at well-rounded talents, not just the sporting kids or academics," he said. 

Next year Mr Puckeridge said they hoped to have 50 people register, and to be a more inclusive event. 

"Next year we would love to get a variety of people joining in, of all different abilities," he said.

"It's open to everyone, not just able-bodied or experienced performers - we want it to be an all-inclusive event."

The Riverina Food and Wine Festival is on this Saturday, March 23. 

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