I worked at the Mudgee Guardian at the time and while the feedback was indeed mixed, it often felt like the consensus from those at least passionate enough to comment and write to the Guardian, was that the project was a colossal waste of money and resources and would never 'earn' back its cost price.

Well, here we are however many years later and no one could argue the worth of the facility, no matter how against it you were.

The number of NRL matches played at the stadium will soon reach double figures, not to mention the myriad of other codes that have specifically chosen Mudgee as a playing destination.

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Time and time again, players and commentators both praise the ground as one of the best they've seen, country or not, but certainly west of the mountains.

These events don't just draw one-day crowds either, given the timing of other events around these matches has resulted in Mudgee becoming the go-to destination for people around the state on these weekends.

These crowds bring in millions of dollars into the region, and that's just on a single visit. Then you have people that come back to see more of Mudgee than last time.

Earlier this year we had the Charity Shield, Mudgee Races, the Mudgee Show and more in a single weekend, we even did a special front page, because it felt like it was the biggest weekend of the year.

Well guess what? Here we are, a few months later and we're facing an even bigger weekend with another NRL match, the Gooree Cup race day, markets, The Rylstone Celebration of Aviation, League Legends dinner, Million Paws Walk...the election.

I mean, there is loads listed already and I've barely covered the smaller events which are just as valuable.

People coming to Mudgee are spoiled for choice when it come to events, especially when visiting from outside the region.

It's an oft-repeated story that there is 'nothing to do' around Mudgee - especially for the underage - and I get where they're coming from, but not one of these events couldn't be considered family-friendly, so the reasons for that excuse are running very thin.