{"id":131024,"date":"2016-01-01T20:58:08","date_gmt":"2016-01-01T10:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=131024"},"modified":"2020-10-30T11:43:44","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T01:43:44","slug":"south-burnett-greets-2016-in-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2016\/01\/01\/south-burnett-greets-2016-in-style\/","title":{"rendered":"South Burnett Greets 2016 In Style"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Miranda, 2, and Natasha Jimenez, from Nanango, were keen to welcome in the New Year at Nanango<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

January 1, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

There was no excuse not to have a good time in the South Burnett on New Year’s Eve with fun events scheduled in most towns.<\/p>\n

Nanango led the way with its inaugural New Year’s Eve Mardi Gras, organised by the Funfest Committee.<\/p>\n

The re-boot of the old town festival attracted a big crowd to the Nanango Showgrounds to enjoy live music, hot food, children’s rides and two fireworks displays.<\/p>\n

Many of the family groups left after the 8:00pm fireworks, only to be replaced by an older crowd eager to enjoy the live music and drinks from the bar.<\/p>\n

The official culmination of the evening was the fireworks at midnight.<\/p>\n

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Brad Buckley, Tony Cisneros and friends were keeping the music rocking at the Nanango Showgrounds<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Jenny Ball, from Tingoora, and Marlee Robertson, 10, from Landsborough<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
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Skiye Houghton, from Kingaroy, and Jared Donadel, from Nanango<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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Neil Rose, from Rosie’s Fun 4 All, was running the free junior disco … and Brock Harrison, 7, from Kingaroy was having a great time<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
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Shelby Hanson and Wendy Barrow travelled from Ipswich to enjoy Nanango’s New Year’s Eve Mardi Gras
entertainment<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Pro-Rata Reunion<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In Kingaroy, the reunion of Pro Rata – after a 25-year break – attracted a big crowd to the Carrollee Hotel.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The one-off gig brought back together Darren Schmidt, Paul Biltoft, Noel Schmidt, Murray Harney and Russell Nugent to belt out a suite of rock and roll favourites.<\/p>\n

Pro-Rata were Kingaroy favourites 30 years ago, and many of their former fans and school friends were in the audience.<\/p>\n

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Pro-Rata … a big crowd gathered in the Carrollee Hotel’s beer garden for the special night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Russell Nugent belts out another favourite<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
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Darren Schmidt was working hard on guitar<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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Enjoying the Pro-Rata reunion were Lynley Williams, from Brisbane; Rosie Schmidt, from Kingaroy; and Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Goomeri Rodeo<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Goomeri’s New Year’s Eve rodeo is a traditional South Burnett end-of-year family event which always attracts a good crowd to Goomeri Showgrounds.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Entrants competed in a string of events for good cash prizes, including steer wrestling, barrel races, rope and ties, bareback and saddle rides, and junior events.<\/p>\n

The main event on the evening was the bull ride which had a $1000 prize purse.<\/p>\n

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At the gates and ready to go in the saddle ride at Goomeri (Photo: Alicia Pidgeon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/h3>\n

(Video by Alicia Pidgeon)<\/strong><\/p>\n