Article written by Sera-Lyn Terare.
The Winter Harvest Festival is a celebration of food, wine and farming with just a dash of good old country culture. This festival is a foodie’s heaven and definitely something worth speaking about – and in my opinion, something worth adding to your bucket list. Who wouldn’t love a festival all about the goodness of fresh produce and good company?
The Winter Harvest Festival is an amazing chance for families and food lovers to come around, relax, meet local farmers, watch cooking demonstrations, and be a part of one of the biggest smorgasbords of fresh produce from the farmers of the Scenic Rim, with many of the produce being supplied by farmers all over the Scenic Rim. For example, bush food such as beer, wine and spirts are being supplied by Binna Burra from Bunjurgen Estate Vineyard, vegetables from Charlwood Organic Farm, honey from Dewar honey, and many more are featured during this event. The upside is that not only do you get to sample and have a chance to purchase their wares, but you also get to meet them.
The many activities of the festival include amazing tasting plates, wines and fresh produce which are on sale throughout the festival, and the favourite highlight being the Tractor Pulling Competition, where teams are pitted against each other to pull a 12-tonne tractor, the heaviest kind of tug-of-war that I have ever seen.
The Winter Harvest Festival is held every year during July in Aratula. This year, it was held from June 30 to July 8 2018 at the Aratula Sports Complex. Inside the complex you’re greeted by stalls of local produce, cooking demos, samples of the produce, and food and wine that feature, one example being sheep cheese, honey and fudge.
The music, aromas wafting, and loud laughter from festival goers lures you in. I mean, who wouldn’t love the pure joy of laughter and the smell of good food? Outside, there’s activities for children such as jumping castles and slides for them to enjoy while their parents enjoy the food and live music.
The week begins on Saturday 30 June, with events starting as early as 7am, a struggle for some, including me to be honest, but for those involved, they were up with the sun. The first event is a backstage pass to Tommerup’s Dairy Farm, where you get an inside look into the behind-the-scenes of a dairy farm. This event is one of many events that is booking-required as well as a small fee, but not all the events required a fee. A taste of Country Cooking was a taste-testing event beginning at 8am. This event is a way for festival goers to enjoy country style cooking with both vegan and gluten free options available.
Now, I know there’s probably so much more that I could say about the first day of the festival but honestly, there is so many more events that are worth mentioning during the week that this festival was held. One is the Beaudesert Gourmet Street Food Festival. A festival within a festival, one of my favourite things about festivals! Well that, and the food on offer. I mean, who doesn’t like food?!
The Gourmet Street Food festival is where chefs can showcase their food, stalls of hand-made and vintage products, and it includes live music and kids activities! This one is a free event which is great, and all you have to take is a blanket or a chair. How could you not like that, especially with vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options available? This Harvest Festival really has something for everyone.
I mentioned a list of products and farmers that will be in attendance during the harvest festival, and one of my favourite events held on Monday July 2 is the Binna Burra Bush Tucker event. This offered a look into cultural foods and a natural biodiversity of plants and animal life. This event is for those who want to know what we, as humans, could live off in regards to the bush foods that are found in forests. A free event located in Canungra, all you need is a hat and sunscreen!
For a festival like this, it’s best to book early in advance for any events that are booking and fee required. An event like this is so full of food and country culture that you won’t want to miss it, and I strongly urge you to add this to your 2019 bucket list.
The next Winter Harvest Festival will be held 29 June through to 7 July in 2019.
For more information on next year’s event, please don’t hesitate to visit the website https://www.eatlocalweek.com.au/
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