74th SWS Bank National Cherry Festival A Huge Success, Despite Wet Weather

The organisers had to cancel a few events, and shuffle others, but all in all the 74th Annual SWS Bank National Cherry Festival was a resounding success.

Hilltops Council Events Coordinator David Munnerley said it was a really good turnout, adding that the real winners were the Hilltops region and the businesses. “I was talking to a couple of business owners and they said, “We had the biggest Cherry Festival we’ve ever had”,” Mr Munnerley said. “One even said if they’d had a crystal ball they would have ordered more ponchos.”

With some of the events, like the street parade and stage performances having to be cancelled for safety reasons, visitors to the area spent their time looking through the region’s stores and checking out the art exhibitions.

There were still plenty of things to keep everyone entertained for the entire weekend, including the Cherry Pip Spit competition, market stalls, food vans and amusements, as well as the Bush Poets and tours of the local cherry orchards, wineries and tourist spots.

Mr Munnerely said there were a few highlights over the weekend.

“Definitely, as usual, the cherry pie eating competition,” he said.

“The inaugural Cherry Twirl competition was quite well received.”

“In the 5 to 10 year range, there were approximately 20 entries.”

Mr Munnerley said the organising committee would now assess the weekend and discuss ideas for how to improve on what was already a wonderful event and start planning for next year’s whopping 75th annual event.

He also said that he’d put in an order for sunshine.

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• Festivals
• National Cherry Festival
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