At the risk of sounding like the prime minister, how good is it living in the Riverina?

Thousands of happy faces streamed through the region at the weekend, heading to festivals, sporting events and just generally getting out and about.

That thousands of participants, parents and families could safely make their way to Wagga for the junior state cup southern conference touch football carnival is worlds away from where most would have thought we'd be 12 months ago.

Sure it was a little smaller - only 3000 people were allowed on the venue at any one time, far fewer than the usual 10,000. But still, the influx meant it was hard to find even a couch to surf on in the city.

That Tumbafest organisers could bounce back from cancelling in November to put on a fantastic weekend up in the hills on Saturday and Sunday is testament to the team.

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It drew 3000 people over the two days and even though "it's been a lot of hard work", there's no doubt the community would have had it any other way.

The arrival of the vaccine certainly makes the future look much brighter, even as the cooler months and winter loom.

It's enough to have the Uranquinty Folk Festival working on both plans A and B for when their October long weekend event rolls around.

Organisers are optimistic the immunisation program will be well under way and they're confident the 50^th edition of the four-day extravaganza will be able to go ahead.

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It would be irresponsible to think the vaccine marks the end of the pandemic, but it is the start.

Thoughts of "oh well, there's no coronavirus here" shouldn't be entertained too long - our brief COVID-19 history has shown that complacency is no match for the virus.

We need only to look at the raft of border closures and lockdowns that Australians have endured in the relatively short time we've been living with coronavirus.

But there are certainly exciting times ahead for Wagga, the Riverina and Australia. Start marking the calendars and get ready for making the most of what's on offer.

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