The Running of the sheep was a highlight for the big crowd.
From Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th October, Boorowa was the place to be for the historic Boorowa Irish Woolfest. Food, specials, activities, and, of course, the ‘Running of the Sheep’ were among the festivities for locals and visitors who attended.
President of the committee, Glenn Harry, said he thought it was a great weekend.
“Everybody I spoke to, from the stallholders to the businesses, all seemed to have had a pretty good weekend, so all round it was a pretty successful Woolfest.
“I thought it was well run and that’s thanks to our committee. There was just an excellent organisation at a local level from a whole bunch of people, and that really helps.
“Great weather, great crowd. All the stallholders seemed to think they had better-than-average days, so they were all pretty happy. I’ve never seen a happier bunch of stallholders. It was all positive; it was good for the town.
“It’s really good for the town, that’s why people pitch in and help; it’s helped put Boorowa on the map. It’s a great town, and people really like helping out.”
For such a massive weekend, it takes a lot of planning, which starts soon after the event for the Woolfest Committee.
“We will do a bit of a review in mid-November, which is what we normally do, and then we’ll plan where we go from there, but I thought the Sunday part of it worked well. The key to this is to fill in Saturday a bit better.
Photos Phil Coggins.
Quick shear is a great start and if we can get working dogs as well as a couple of other events on the Saturday and then feed in to the Saturday night over the park with the colouring in competitions and the jumping castles for the kids and then the movie and the fireworks, it’s all a good Saturday and then the people then just flow in to Sunday and it fills up the whole weekend.
“The number of people that turned up on Saturday afternoon at the park just for the movie, the jumping castle, the kids’ events and the fireworks. There was a really good crowd down there from about 3:00 pm onwards, so that was great.
“I thought the couple of musicians were terrific and I think people really enjoyed listening to them on the street, so adding another act or two would be a really good outcome. Jumping castles and things were always really popular with the kids and we had around 80-odd stall holders there. Having that many stalls along with the variety of goods they bring along was good as well.
“Thanks to the police and the ambos for their part and the local council staff who just pitched in and gave up their time for a long weekend and made all this possible and made it all work professionally, it was a really good effort.
“David Munnerley, who is the Tourism and Events Coordinator, did a fantastic job; he was terrific and he put in a lot of effort.
“Also, thank you to Steph Cooke, the Local Member for Cootamundra, who gave up her long weekend to come over.”
Woolfest was yet another success for the town.
– Jack Murray