Liz Cowled (bottom left) with volunteers from Can Assist Junee who organised the sold-out “Yellow Lunch” at Junee’s inaugural Canola Gateway Festival. Photo: Marguerite McKinnon.
Junee’s inaugural Canola Gateway Festival was a blooming success thanks to a combination of perfect weather, seasoned stallholders selling interesting produce, and larger than expected crowds.
Canola is an oilseed crop that produces the bright yellow flowers that transform Riverina paddocks each winter and spring. The festival celebrates the region’s canola season, showcasing the landscape alongside local food, produce, music, farming and tourism.
Junee Council’s Facilities and Community Development Manager Sam Perry said the event held last weekend attracted people from Sydney, Canberra and across the Riverina.
“It’s been awesome. It’s been really good. The Saturday night was great and the market day (Sunday) has been awesome,” Mr Perry said.
“We were expecting 500-600 people and we have had over 1100, so it’s been a massive success for us.
“We thought it was a good opportunity to have it now with the canola looking beautiful, and we wanted to lead from the front and give the community something that they’d love.”
Adventurous children made a beeline for the mechanical bull at the inaugural Canola Gateway Festival. Photo: Marguerite McKinnon.
Festival highlights included a mechanical bull ride, petting zoo, and potty lamb races.
The quality stalls showcasing local produce saw a number sell out.
Wayne Manderson was busy selling his “The Big Boy Sauce” from Wagga Wagga.
Wayne Manderson selling his “The Big Boys Sauce” at the inaugural Canola Gateway Festival. Photo: Marguerite McKinnon.
“I’ve been making the product for about 40 years for my family, myself and friends, but only gone down the marketing line about four years ago,” Mr Manderson said.
“It’s been pretty good for an inaugural market. Customer favourite? Everyone’s tolerance is different. Some like it hot. Some like it not. Probably the Green Mild was the best seller today but we do have the Extra Hot Black Label. There aren’t any chillies but it’s cayenne pepper and ginger and it has a real peppery bite.”
Wayne’s sauces are a local success story after a number of businesses in Albury, Wodonga, Gundagai, Tumut, Adelong, Junee, Wagga and Griffith, as well as online, now stock his brand, turning his retirement into a full-time job.
The Canola Gateway Festival also featured Can Assist Junee’s sold-out “Yellow Lunch” where more than 70 diners sat down to a three-course paddock-to-plate meal showcasing local produce.
”We had our caterers Michelle Seymour from Marrar Kitchen bring roast lamb and roast pork, roast veggies, and sourdough, and, Batlow apple crumble and ice cream and cream, for 74 people and they all paid in advance,” Can Assist Junee’s Liz Cowled said.
All proceeds from the long lunch will help local families battling cancer.
Ms Cowled is also a local farmer and brought bunches of canola from her farm to decorate the Yellow Lunch tent. The milder winter conditions has seen canola blooming a month earlier this year.
“Yeah, it’s early so we’re really hoping that we don’t get any frosts now because everything’s pretty much in full flower,” she said.
“We’ve had good rains through the growing season and we probably need one more, one more really substantial rain, like an inch, two inches, in another couple of weeks, and also for the wheat, barley, and all the grain crops, that will fill the heads and fill the grains. Then they’ll ripen, and we’ll windrow the canola, and then we’ll harvest in November, December.”
Milder conditions across the Riverina has seen canola and other crops bloom a month earlier this year. Photo: Marguerite McKinnon.
Windrowing canola means cutting the crop just before full maturity and laying it in neat, linear rows (windrows or swaths) on top of the remaining stubble to dry out evenly before it is picked up by a harvester.
Organisers are confident the festival’s success will see it become an annual event.
