July 22, 2014
South Burnett and Cherbourg will be offering a jam-packed program of events this October long weekend … but there’s still room for more!
Yesterday the South Burnett and Cherbourg On Show committee officially launched this year’s Festival, which will run from Friday, October 3 through to Monday, October 6.
Thirty events have already been listed for this year’s long weekend celebrations.
But organisers want more. A lot more.
The event – now in its third year – is based on a concept originally developed in Victoria’s Heathcote wine region.
Heathcote began running a ”
But rather than put on a single event, Heathcote encouraged different venues to stage their own mini events so it could offer visitors a smorgasboard of different entertainment choices.
In recent years this small town of 2700 people – located midway between Echuca and Melbourne – has become a favourite Queen’s Birthday long weekend destination for Melbourne residents who want to get away to the country for a short break.
The idea was adopted by the South Burnett Wine Industry Association in 2012 when the Queensland Government created the new October long weekend.
The Festival kicked off that year with just nine events held over the Saturday and Sunday.
But the idea proved so successful that last year a new committee was formed to organise an expanded South Burnett and Cherbourg On Show Festival, which offered 40 different events from Nanango to Cherbourg spread between Friday and Monday.
Committee chairman Cr Kathy Duff said that last year’s event had definitely proved the concept was successful.
“Normally when we have a long weekend a lot of locals go away and we have a bit of an economic slump. But last year South Burnett and Cherbourg On Show drew slightly more tourists to our region than locals who went away, and things went pretty well.
“So this year, we have two goals: get even more tourists to come see what a great place the South Burnett really is, and encourage more locals to stay home for the long weekend and have fun on our own doorstep.”
This year the Festival will be offering everything from the Nanango Mardi Gras (which has changed its date to be part of the event) to racing challenges at Manar Park, art exhibitions, wine afternoons, Blackbutt rail trail walks, a Nanango race club meeting, a campdraft, a major fishing competition at Bjelke-Petersen Dam, Bunya Mountains and Cherbourg dining experiences, the giant Big Sing concert at Kingaroy Town Hall and an Oktoberfest at Wondai.
“But we’ve only just started putting this year’s calendar together, so we’d encourage anyone who wants to put on an event over the October long weekend to contact us about it pronto so we can include it in the Festival program.”
Events that are part of the Festival are run by their own organising committees or businesses, and there is no charge to be included in the Festival program.
Instead, the Festival’s committee organises publicity and marketing for the whole weekend both inside and outside the region. It’s also willing to provide operators with tips about how to market their own events too, if required.
“Right now we have more than 30 different events and activities, but we’d really like to have as many 60 this year if at all possible,” Cr Duff said.
Events can be as simple as a special lunch or dinner menu right up to a full multi-day suite of activities, and can be free or have a cover charge. The key criteria is that they’re open to the public and reflect positively on some aspect of our region.
The Festival’s initial 2014 calendar will be released in early August.
People who’d like to have their events included in the 2014 Festival program should phone (07) 4162-3899 or 0421-686-880 or 0488-112-298.
