Goomeri pumpkin festival fun for all
Sun 06 June 2010
Jennifer Purse, Bachelor of Communication
For something off the usual tourist track, visit Goomeri on the last Sunday in May for a celebration of all things related to pumpkins.
It seems the vegetables grow very well in this part of the Burnett region of Queensland.
I last visited Goomeri for the festival in 2002, and I thought then it was a lot of fun.
This year’s festival was bigger and better, with a myriad of stalls selling everything from pumpkins and pumpkin-based foods to handicrafts, clothing, skin care and festival souvenirs.
The highlight of the day was the Great Australian Pumpkin Roll at 2.30pm.
Pumpkins had to be registered by 1pm, and some tardy would-be competitors were seen afterwards wandering sadly around with unnumbered pumpkins in their hands.
The marshalling and rolling was a marvellous demonstration of crowd control, in order to have some 230 juniors and 440 adults all roll their pumpkins within half an hour.
Demonstrations included steam driven engines, working dogs, reptile handling and cooking with pumpkins.
The very talented Guy McLean, Australian horseman, entertainer and bush poet, put his horses through their paces and brought tears to the eyes with his poignant ballad about rural battlers.
The Festival is not only a fun day out, but also a chance for organisations such as the SES to raise much-needed funds through raffles.
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