Mudgee Showground was awash with the sounds of great music and good company on Sunday (November 25) when A Day in the Dirt rocked nearly 1000 enthusiastic punters who came out for the fundraising event.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
As part of their gargantuan effort to support farmers during one of the worst droughts in recent history, the event was dreamt up to support the 200 Bales initiative that’s been running since mid 2018, raising funds to buy and deliver bales to struggling farmers in the region.
Read more:
One of the organisers of A Day in the Dirt and 200 Bales, Glenn Box spoke to the Mudgee Guardian about the event and he couldn’t have been happier with the turnout.
“I think it was an excellent day. A great way to spend a Sunday afternoon,” he said.
“The artists were great, the crowd was good. We estimate the number to be close to 1000 based on the amount of wristbands that were sold at the gate.”
While the exact fundraising total wasn’t known at the time of publishing, Glenn said that 200 Bales has now shipped more than 2000 bales of hay since they began.
“We’re sitting now in a space, where we’ve had some relief from recent weather, with a bit of rainfall and it warming up a bit. The demand for urgent enquiries has dropped off considerably,” he said.
“There’s still a few (requests] coming in but it’s nothing like it was back in August and September, there’s no comparison on that.”
“The plan is to get all the money together now that’s in the account and put all the A Day in the Dirt efforts with it and go and invest 100% of that money in hay right now and have it sitting on the ground ready for distribution.”
Read more:
We asked Glenn when he thinks the time will come for 200 Bales to end.
“That will happen at some stage, definitely. It’s just a matter of waiting for the season to do it’s thing and we encourage and hope people that have needed the support of 200 Bales that if they’re a point now where they can reassess their position that they do that.”
“But we will be there if they need the help again.”
Glenn wanted to thank each person has supported 200 Bales along the way and Mid-Western Regional Council for their support and singled out Mudgee Showground as a venue which should host similar events more often.
Read more:
“I guess I want to thank all the sponsors for supporting the event and Ken Sutcliffe for being a great MC on the day.”
“The condition of the Mudgee Showground made it even better. It’s a great venue up there and it can probably be used more for that type of thing.”
With the success at the weekend, could there be another event on the horizon?
“Never say never. There’s nothing we’re looking at at the moment,” he said.
“We think it’s got merit, certainly. I think Mudgee’s a great spot for community events especially. There is a chance it could happen again.”