November 2, 2016
A crowd of about 140 people converged on Kumbia Hall last Friday night for a “Down With The Drought” community dinner.
The event is one of a series of 10 community dinners being held across rural parts of the South Burnett between mid-October and mid-December.
The evenings give people living in more remote parts of the region the chance to get together with their neighbours and – for one night, at least – forget the stresses and strains the last few years of floods and drought have brought to many.
The dinners are funded by the State Government through the Department of Communities and are an initiative of Cr Ros Heit.
In 2015 – as Communities Portfolio chair – Cr Heit secured funding from the Department for a series of “Down With The Drought” dinners to help lift flagging spirits in the South Burnett’s farming areas.
The initial round of dinners was so successful that the Department agreed to fund a second round this year, too.
With farming conditions now improving and the South Burnett’s drought declaration lifted, Cr Heit thinks it’s unlikely there’ll be another round of dinners after the current season ends.
But she’s convinced they’ve helped a lot of residents deal a bit better with the trying circumstances some have found themselves in over the last few years, through no fault of their own.
The Kumbia dinner followed similar functions held at Tablelands and Wooroolin (Oct 15), Durong and Mondure (Oct 22) and Booie (Oct 23), and was put together the same way.
In each area a local organising committee selected the venue, the catering and the entertainment, then issued invitations to locals to attend.
The Council, for its part, organised giveaways and prizes, and picked up the bill.
Uniquely, the prizes at each dinner are gift vouchers that can be redeemed at local shops so that businesses in far-flung corners of the region can get some uplift from the dinners, too.
Kumbia’s dinner was organised by a committee comprising members of the Kumbia Hall Association and the Kumbia Progress Association.
The same committee had organised 2015’s ‘Down With The Drought’ dinner and members said they found the process much easier and smoother the second time around.
During the course of the night guests got to enjoy a two-course buffet meal prepared by JC Catering and entertainment from South Burnett country-rock performer Arthur Nettelfield.
The nearby Kumbia Hotel helped organise a bar for the night, and everyone walked away with a gift bag full of useful items put together by the Council.
Further dinners will be held at Goodger, Maidenwell, Cloyna, and Ballogie/Coverty over the next 6 weeks.
