The Annual Henry Lawson Festival honoured one of Australia’s greatest poets and short story writers with one of the biggest turnouts in the events History.
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Henry Lawson Festival Committee member, Joy Harrison, said the number of festival goers on Saturday especially was fantastic, but not unexpected.
“Because the weather was so perfect we had a much larger crowd than we had ever had.
All the stall holders I spoke too were very happy with the day, with sales far exceeding their expectations,” she said.
Those present witnessed a wonderful array of street performances, poetry recitals and stalls, selling everything from fairy floss to hand-knitted beanies.
The highlight of the Festival on Saturday however, was the much anticipated parade, which attracted thousands on onlookers hoping to catch of glimpse of horse drawn vehicles, marching bands, vintage and classic vehicles and even Henry Lawson himself.
The parade included horse-drawn vehicles which had completed the annual Henry Lawson Pilgrimage Drive, an annual recreation of the Lawson’s family’s journey from Grenfell to the Gulgong goldfield.
“At some of the competitions I have been to there are a lot of children participating and they are encouraged to write theiir own work.”
Before cutting the 148th birthday cake with Henry Lawson (alias James Howard from Melbourne), Councillor Percy Thompson sang a song he and his friend had written entitled ‘A Mate Like Henry Lawson’.
The afternoon then saw various awards handed out.
CRT Rural Supplies took out the prize for best float in the parade, literally sheering sheep on the back of their display truck.
Runners up were Gulgong Show Society and Owl Head Lodge.
Linda Lewis took out best costume, while De Witt Consulting won the competition for best window display, closely followed by Gulgong Old Wares and Collectables and Gulgong Dispensary.
The Henry Lawson Heritage Festival Committee would like to thank all those who helped to make the event an outstanding success.
At the Henry Lawson Society Literary Awards on Saturday night, Maggie Murphy of Heathcotte, Victoria, won the coveted Henry Lawson statuette for the Leonard Teal Memorial Performance poety prize.
Earlier in the day, Ms Murphy and her brother Terrence launched their CD of Lawson’s poems, Henry, at the Henry Lawson Centre.
Ms Murphy, said events like the Henry Lawson Heritage Festival and the Henry Lawson Society Literary Awards helped to keep Australia’s heritage of bush verse alive.
“We’re not learning ‘My Country’ off by heart like we once did, but children are being encourage to write their own work,” she said.
“At some of the competitions I have been to there are a lot of children participating and they are encouraged to write theiir own work.”