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Birdwood Ave blessed for second annual Celebrate Stanhope festival

Remember to floss: Isabella Knight, who is almost five and from Stanhope, enjoys a snack while taking part in the children’s craft activity, which kept the under-18s at the food and wine festival entertained during the four-hour celebration.

Stanhope kick-started festival season for the region on Sunday when Birdwood Ave came to life with hundreds of people turning out for the second annual Celebrate Stanhope Food and Wine Festival.

Next weekend, the focus will turn to Tongala for its annual town-wide garage sale (on Saturday, October 7) and — the following day — its Eats and Beats festival on the lawns of the Mangan St soundshell.

A week later, the Rochester community will look back on 12 months of agonising recovery when it is given respite from dealing with insurance companies, local, state and federal government support organisations and all the associated challenges of the 2022 October flood disaster.

The Saturday, October 14 music festival, titled Rochella, gained Music Victoria support and will include performances from award-winning Victorian bands Cash Savage and the Last Drinks and The Black Sorrows.

Twisting technique: Stanhope Swimming Pool committee’s Mel Northausen prepares fairy floss at the group’s stall at Celebrate Stanhope. This swim season will again include free entry in the Campaspe shire.

Bones and Jones from Geelong will also perform, along with dance-pop collective Empress, Echuca band Stumbling North, family-friendly act The Burnt Sausages and Australian Idol artist Anya Alchemy.

District students will take a star turn with the premiere of a song they wrote in collaboration with Golden Guitar winner Josh Arnold for his Small Town Culture music project.

Rochella has been organised by Rochester Community House, with support from sporting clubs and committees of the region.

Lachlan Brennan’s inspired choice of a Ninja Turtle was created by Enchanted Rainbow Entertainment balloon creator Chloe Lee. Lachlan, from Tongala, will attend next week’s Tongala Eats and Beats Festival to continue the theme that runs through October in the region. There is also a music festival in mid-October at Rochester Recreation Reserve.

The Stanhope event involved a variety of community groups, including the 10-year-old Men’s Shed — one of the strongest of its kind in the region, with a 40-strong membership.

The group meets three days a week, and on hand to explain the products on sale were Alvin McConnell, 79, and his cousin John Porch.

Among the organising committee at the event were Glenda Cowie, Christine Dicketts and Des Crichton, who had been leading figures in the past two years of events at Stanhope.

Cat’s pyjamas: Sunday afternoon’s sunshine had Kyabram eight-year-old Ruby Allen looking for an escape from the heat after being disguised as a cat by the festival’s face-painting team.
What it’s all about: Stanhope and Kyneton pair Doug Clark and Michelle George enjoy the sunshine at the now annual event.

Jenni and Ian Everett, a husband and wife promoting the Ned Kelly Red and Callipari Wines brand, were also on hand to explain the third-generation family’s Mildura product.

The fresh red spritzer, which is one variety of the Ned Kelly Red brand, is a lemon and orange juice-infused drink named in honour of the bushranger’s father, Red.

Balloon animals were again extremely popular — dogs, dinosaurs, turtles, flowers, rabbits and the obligatory balloon swords scattered everywhere.

Back by popular demand: Lockington singer Neil Taylor, who is one half of the duo that also included Steve Wickham, was back on stage at the festival with the group he and Steve call The Healers — inspired by the fact the aim of the group is to “make you feel better’’.

Stanhope pool had a stand at the event, the committee again pleased by the fact it will be a free swimming season again in 2023-24 (starting on the last weekend in November).

The plan is for the committee to again have celebrations to match its pizza nights and inflatable-with-barbecue events of last season.

Nine or 10 volunteers from Friends of Gargarro Botanic Garden were on hand to make Devonshire teas while also selling plants.

The funds will be used to offset the cost of the community car and bolster the coffers of the Friends of Gargarro Botanic Garden.

Stay tuned for more details of the other October festivals in coming weeks.

Food and flora: Sharon Stockdale (right) with Friends of Gargarro volunteer Jenny Wadelton at their Devonshire tea and pot plant stall. Both elements were in great demand during the day as the organisation showed a green thumb and a similarly deft touch in the kitchen.
Full house: It was standing room only for Rick Lansdown as he took the opportunity to take some feedback from those who enjoyed the 26-degree heat and the offerings of stallholders at the festival.
Prize time: Celebrate Stanhope master of ceremonies Rick Lansdown, who, together with Brett Old, has been a fantastic addition to the thriving Campaspe shire community, presents Stanhope CFA member Ann Williams (left) with her prize amid support from Rochester and Rushworth ambulance officers Nicole Hickey and Lee Tennant, who had a stall at the event and offered an emergency service to festival goers.
Crafty cousins: Stanhope Men’s Shed members, and cousins, John Porch and Alvin McConnell, with some of the product that was on offer for the hundreds of people that attended Sunday’s Celebrate Stanhope Food and Wine Festival. The shed is rarely not involved in supporting community activities in the town.
Street eating: Gordon Emmett, Len and Lyn Tennent, and Ian and Keryn Coote in Birdwood Ave at Stanhope where there were a number of food and beverage selections for the hundreds of people that flooded into the second annual festival.
Have a red instead: Jenni Everett and her husband, Ian, had a popular marquee at the festival.

Kyabram Free Press and Campaspe Valley News editor