About the Extend the Weekend Project

Building a resilient, year-round hospitality economy through multi-venue trials and targeted visitor growth.

What is "Extend the Weekend"?

Extend the Weekend is Berry NSW’s Uptown-funded response: Days Like These is a short, sharp program of four music-led campaign weekends (February–March and May–June 2026) that uses live music, venue collaboration and targeted marketing and local storytelling. When coupled with transport advocacy, the goal is to spread visitation beyond the weekend and create reliable income for local hospitality operators and new opportunities for musicians and the creative industries.

For our visitors, it's about helping tourists live like a local — stay an extra night, eat in town, move between venues and come back again.

For locals, it's about rebuilding the habit of connecting with friends, listening to live music and supporting our hospitality venues midweek.

The Uptown Grant Program is a NSW Government seed-fund to help towns as diverse as Berry, Byron, Balgowlah and Bathurst rebuild vibrancy with coordinated “going-out” districts — places that thrive with sustainable hospitality businesses throughout the week and through the seasons. Uptown supports district coordination, consumer engagement and trial multi-venue activations so local businesses can work together, attract visitors and grow a sustainable hospitality driven economy.

WHY BERRY NSW WAS SELECTED

Berry NSW was awarded Uptown support because of:

  • A clear district plan and brand — a newly finalised destination identity and clear campaign structure (Berry NSW → EXTEND THE WEEKEND → A DAY WELL SPENT).
  • Strong local leadership and business buy-in — a Chamber-led District Team and experienced team of local district coordination ready to deliver.
  • A program that addresses an identified need — Berry’s data shows strong seasonality and weekday softness; the campaign directly targets that gap with commercial programming and transport solutions.
ABOUT THE PROJECT — OUR STORY

Berry NSW is a place where heritage, nature and great hospitality meet. Awarded the coveted Top Tourism Town Award in 2022, 2023 and 2024- The Extend the Weekend campaign evolves our effering: we’ve refreshed the brand to position Berry NSW as a modern country-coastal village — warm, stylish and welcoming — and then built programming that lets locals and visitors experience the town as a lived place, not a one-day trip. The campaign is venue-first, music-led and business-centred: we work with local venues, makers, artists, transport partners and sponsors to create repeatable reasons to visit and stay.

What We're Changing

We’re tackling the problems that limit year-round resilience:

  • Dependence on daytime weekend trade and seasonal peaks.
  • Limited evening and midweek hospitality.
  • Fragile live-music pathways and episodic cultural offers.
  • Transport gaps that limit multi-venue exploration.

How we respond: multi-venue Thursday nights (locals), Sunday sessions (stay-one-more nights), venue-attached influencers, a targeted PR & digital campaign timed to booking windows, and a transport advocacy program to make the precinct easier to navigate.

Part of Something Bigger

Extend the Weekend joins a network of Uptown districts across NSW that share tools, learnings and best practice. The program is designed to create replicable, locally-led models for regional revitalisation — from venue collaboration to sponsorship frameworks and transport partnerships.
Berry Village Uptown Grant

Beyond the Grant

Uptown funding seeds the work — but our ambition extends past June 2026. We’re building membership income, sponsor partnerships and product-led offers (stay + music packages) so Extend the Weekend becomes a long-term platform for a vibrant, inclusive Berry NSW.

How We'll Measure Success

We’ll report against Uptown indicators and local metrics: increased collaboration and membership, footfall and spend uplift on Thursdays and Sundays, more Sunday→Monday room-nights, sustained media and social reach, artist engagements, media coverage and sponsor commitments. The program is designed to produce quickly measurable commercial wins for venues while building longer-term, sustainable cultural infrastructure.

Get Involved

Venues, producers, hosts and sponsors: we want you. Contact the Precinct Community Manager (Kate Dezarnaulds) to join the District Team, list on ATDW, or explore partnership packages. Stay in the loop — sign up to Berry.org.au for news and event updates.
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Supported by the NSW Government through the Uptown Grant Program and administered by Create NSW and the Office of the 24-Hour Economy Commissioner.