{"id":190075,"date":"2017-09-15T04:16:47","date_gmt":"2017-09-14T18:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=190075"},"modified":"2020-08-14T10:39:55","modified_gmt":"2020-08-14T00:39:55","slug":"a-smashing-time-in-blackbutt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2017\/09\/15\/a-smashing-time-in-blackbutt\/","title":{"rendered":"A Smashing Time In Blackbutt"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
South Burnett Tourism Officer Julie Foley and Cr Danita Potter, from the South Burnett Regional Council, were helping to spread the South Burnett message to visitors to the festival<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

September 15, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

There was plenty of avocado fun to be had in Blackbutt on Saturday, without anyone having to worry about their mortgages!<\/p>\n

In fact, as Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington suggested when she officially opened the second annual Blackbutt Avocado Festival, everyone seemed to be having a smashing time.<\/p>\n

And the organisers were happy, too.<\/p>\n

Organising committee chairman Jeff Connor told southburnett.com.au<\/strong> all the stallholders he had spoken to had told him there were more people in attendance than in previous years.<\/p>\n

“We don’t really know but I’d say the numbers were in excess of 3000,” he said.<\/p>\n

A highlight of the day was the street parade, which had more than 35 participants, and was led by a solitary piper.<\/p>\n

Students from both Benarkin and Blackbutt State Schools took part as well as the local kindy and daycare centres.<\/p>\n

Medical students from the Blackbutt Medical Centre hammed it up with a gurney and a dancing “surgeon”.<\/p>\n

There were also sled dogs, karate kids, stilt walkers, the Timbertowns Woodworking Group and a display of well-polished automobiles from the Blackbutt Car Enthusiasts Club.<\/p>\n

Superheroes from the Taromeo Fire Brigade, accompanied by Blazer the Bear, also were featured in the parade and took out the best costume award.<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Later in the day, the superheroes had to don their regular yellow uniforms to tackle a fire burning on Old Esk Road at Taromeo.)<\/p>\n

Blackbutt resident Stephen Moore won the $1000 prize in the Avocado Roll competition, which was conducted throughout the day with heats and then finals.<\/p>\n

The roll was introduced when the festival was still known as Bloomin’ Beautiful and has grown in popularity ever since.<\/p>\n

Jeff noted that this was the first year that a man had beaten the women to win the competition.<\/p>\n

Over in the showgrounds, the usual woodchopping competition was being held, but this year it was a South-East Queensland Championship event with $1200 in prize money.<\/p>\n

The Avocado Festival also gave many Blackbutt residents their first opportunity to have a look inside the relocated Memorial Hall.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chef Jason Ford was working his magic with avocados in cooking demonstrations, joined at one point on stage by South Burnett Mayor Keith Campbell.<\/p>\n

Also in the hall were demonstrations of avocado grafting, talks about growing avocados and avocado plants for sale.<\/p>\n

Footnote: Avocados and mortgages have become inextricably linked in Australia since some unfortunate recent comments<\/a> that connected millennials’ home-buying prospects to eating smashed avocados …<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Ken Mills Toyota parade came down Coulson Street and then wended its way to the railhead
(Photo: Nanango Electorate Office)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Hayleigh Bray and Tanvi Nath, from Blackbutt, were part of the Karate 4 Kids contingent in the parade<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
South Burnett Deputy Mayor Kathy Duff posed for an Instagram selfie with Member for Nanango and Deputy Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Alvin Avocado made a return visit to Blackbutt to meet his guacamole-eating and smashed avocado fans (Photo: Nanango Electorate Office)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Narelle Sanford, from Nanango, was trying her hand at avocado tossing … one of the many avocado-themed activities happening around the festival grounds<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Garry Sippel, from Dreamtime Reptiles, had a big crowd around his stand keen to get up close to snakes, lizards and a baby croc<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Lighthorseman Pete Riches, from Nanango, and his mount ‘Trooper Jones’ are a familiar sight around South Burnett events<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Taromeo Rural Fire Brigade turned out with Blazer the Bear and his sidekick, as well as a bunch of other superhero volunteers (Photo: Kathy Duff)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Dave Allen, secretary of the Blackbutt Car Enthusiasts Club, had his 1964 Toyota Corona in the parade<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was plenty of avocado fun to be had in Blackbutt on Saturday, without anyone having to worry about their mortgages! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":190077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,3],"tags":[83],"yoast_head":"\nA Smashing Time In Blackbutt - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There was plenty of avocado fun to be had in Blackbutt on Saturday, without anyone having to worry about their mortgages!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2017\/09\/15\/a-smashing-time-in-blackbutt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Smashing Time In Blackbutt - southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There was plenty of avocado fun to be had in Blackbutt on Saturday, without anyone having to worry about their mortgages!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2017\/09\/15\/a-smashing-time-in-blackbutt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-14T18:16:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-14T00:39:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/20170909avocado1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"385\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2017\/09\/15\/a-smashing-time-in-blackbutt\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2017\/09\/15\/a-smashing-time-in-blackbutt\/\",\"name\":\"A Smashing Time In Blackbutt - 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