WARM weather and clear skies combined to make Murtoa’s Big Weekend an outstanding success, president David Grigg said.
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Mr Grigg said 2015 was the third time in the 18-year history of the event that the AFL Grand Final had fallen on the same weekend as the Big Weekend, but organisers had been more than satisfied with the response of Wimmera residents.
“Considering it was AFL Grand Final weekend we’re really pleased,” Mr Grigg said.
“The show on Friday was really well attended and the official opening and art show on Friday night went exceptionally well.
“We had more than 50 ladies and gents get dressed up for our dress-up competition and (band) The BordererS did a great job.”
Mr Grigg said the Big Weekend organisers had worked hard to connect with the public and encourage them to participate in the three-day festivities.
Three new events were included on the Big Weekend agenda for the first time in 2015 - the dress-up competition, a family bike ride and a show ‘n’ shine.
The show ‘n’ shine event at Rabl Park featured vintage cars, motorbikes and boats along with music, rides for the children and an all-day barbecue will be available.
Sunday’s family relay bike ride around Lake Marma saw riders complete ‘laps for tickets’ to go into the draw to win a weekend away in the Grampians.
The Murtoa Stick Shed again proved popular, opening to public on both Saturday and Sunday with The BordererS performing two shows in the cathedral-like structure.
An underage, supervised social at Murtoa College on Saturday evening provided a great night’s entertainment for young people folk and supported Rachael’s Wish, which is raising money to upgrade the oncology unit at Wimmera Base Hospital.
“Our promotion of the event this year was very good,” Mr Grigg said.
“The added attraction of the dress-up competition and The BordererS as a fairly well-known band certainly helped to make the opening night arguably the most successful we’ve had.
“I also think the quality of the art at the art show was up this year and the sales of art have been good as well.”
Saturday’s Murtoa Cup race meet was slightly down on crowd numbers, but Mr Grigg said organisers had expected such an eventuality.
“We’ve clashed with the AFL Grand Final three times in the past 15 years and each time we do clash it does slightly affect attendance,” he said.
“But I think this is the year where we have clashed with the grand final that we’ve been least affected.
“Certainly the fantastic weather we’ve had has made a difference as well.”