Related stories:
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Guyra’s annual army of volunteers has been hard at work all week preparing and running the town’s annual Lamb and Potato Festival.
On Wednesday morning Guyra resident Bertha Reeves was slicing potatoes in the preparation of yet another potato bake.
She will cook over 100 of them over the course of the festival.
“One year I did 162 potato bakes. That’s 450 kilos of potatoes, which I peeled and sliced myself,” Mrs Reeves said.
“The next year I was going to break the record, but I fell out of the cool room on the first day. Broke two wrists, one little finger and an ankle.”
That was two years ago.
“I keep coming back to keep it going” she said with a laugh.
“I’m waiting for someone to take over.”
Secretary Gazebo Manager Julie Gittoes has been involved with the festival for 28 years, charged with ordering stock and overseeing volunteers in the festival kitchen.
“In the mornings I generally have to retrain everybody in about five minutes,” she said. “It takes a moment to remember how to do everything.”
Ms Gittoes helped cook the lamb back when she first started volunteering, a far more informal process compared to today’s well-oiled machine.
“We used to cook it in a backyard in little gas cookers,” she said.
“We’d run around town dropping off legs of lamb to two other ladies, and they’d cook them in their own ovens.”
Ms Gittoes works from around 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day of the festival.
“I’ve got such a lovely group of people behind me, that it makes my job much easier,” she said.
Volunteer Jim O’Neill said his involvement with the festival was just a natural part of living in Guyra.
“It’s just part of being in the local community,” he said.
Mr O’Neill pointed to last year’s windstorm as testament to the strength of Guyra’s volunteer corps.
“That storm just about destroyed the site, but by 10:30 the next morning we were back in full swing, the music was going and everything,” he said.
For lifelong Black Mountain resident and volunteer Chris Bell, the festival is all about atmosphere.
“You’ve got all the car shows, all the out-of-towners coming through, it’s just a buzz for a small town like Guyra,” Mr Bell said.
“You’ve got to come along,” he added. “Just come along and enjoy yourself.”