Garden Festival Draws The Rain

20170920colours2 — Joe Stimpson and Terry and Rose Reid from the Yarraman Progress Association were very happy with the way Colours Of Yarraman unfolded this year, despite the event being bookended with rain

October 20, 2017

The annual Colours Of Yarraman Festival began and ended with rain this year … and it had a few splashes during the week as well.

But after a month of virtually nil rainfall, organisers weren’t daunted by the welcome downpours and the events went on regardless.

The Festival opened on Saturday, October 7 with a workshop from Toowoomba horticulturalist – and WIN-TV gardening guru – Brian Sams at the Yarraman Memorial Hall.

This was followed by Jazz On The Platform at the new Yarraman trailhead interpretive centre in Station Park.

The building occupies approximately the same space as the former Yarraman Railway Station which once sat on the site, and is still under construction.

But fortunately for the Greg Bird Jazz Band and the 60-70 guests who braved an increasingly wet afternoon to attend, it has a roof and provided enough shelter to see the event through to a happy conclusion.

Other events during the week enjoyed largely dry conditions but the final day on Sunday – a display of Open Gardens around the town – drew the wrath of the heavens once again.

Yarraman Progress Association president Joe Stimpson said the group was happy with the way things worked out.

“We had more entries in the gardening competitions than we expected, considering how dry it’s been,” he said.

“Everything worked out well and we’re already planning a number of refinements for next year – mostly connected with the timing on running different things.”

Terry Reid said the Progress Association’s Community Plan which was submitted to Toowoomba Regional Council two years ago was already paying dividends which will assist the growth of the festival in future.

A recent tree and garden planting program undertaken by the Council in Yarraman’s CBD and nearby streets was already making a difference, and this was something that would only improve in future as the plants took root and grew.

Upgrades to Station Park were also paying dividends, attracting an increasing number of Brisbane Valley Rail Trail users to the town.

“The main benefit of this is being felt by our cafes at the moment, but I’m sure this will expand to other businesses in time,” Terry said.

Last Friday night, the winners of this year’s competitions were announced at a garden party held at Heritage House.

Well-known Australian natives specialist Geoff Robinson gave a talk on one of his other great loves – Gerberas – before the presentation of the awards.

The 2017 winners were: