THIS year’s National Cherry Festival on December 5, 6 and 7 will pay homage to the fruit that’s put the town on the map.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Young’s mayor John Walker said cherries were the theme of this year’s three day event.
“Of course, front and centre of our festival is the wonderful fruit which was planted in the area well over a century ago,” he said.
Lauded as one of Australia’s best known harvest festivals, the annual event draws tens of thousands of people to celebrate the harvesting of the local cherry crops.
Cr Walker said the staging of Young’s 65th festival is filled with the promise of great entertainment for the whole family and he expects another big turn out of visitors from a wide radius next month.
“The National Cherry Festival has become a landmark tradition in rural Australia and this year there is plenty of activity on the program to please all tastes,” he said.
The pick your own cherry experience in district orchards has proved a huge attraction that keeps growing in popularity and is available during the festival as well as both in the weeks leading up to and after the celebration.
This year the festival starts outdoors on Friday night with live music, crowning of the cherry and charity queens and a massive fireworks display.
The Saturday program offers a compelling range of activities with buskers, stalls, entertainment, live bands, gun shearer competitions, and iconic features like the cherry pie eating competition.
The annual car show run in conjunction with Autopro keeps growing in popularity with 100 entries expected this year in the hot rod and sports car sections.
The day’s activity peaks with one of the state’s longest eye catching street parades, the performances from the combined pipe bands, the Celtic Tattoo Spectacular, followed by live entertainment with Elvis and Johnny Cash impersonator Andrew Leonard.
Sunday’s program centres in the park where there’s a big breakfast, bush poets, kelpie demonstrations, the cherry pip spit competition and live music.
Cr Walker has paid tribute to the 2014 sponsors of the National Cherry Festival: Donges Supa IGA, Autopro, Young Motors, Quayle Milling, Temora Aviation Museum, Poppa’s Fudge and Jam Factory, M & M’s Music/Yamaha Stage, the South West Slopes Credit Union, RoccyFM/ 2lf, Verto, the NSW Cherry Growers Association, Young Guns and Ammunition, the Empire Hotel, Big W and Wilders Bakery.
“Their contributions are essential to the presentation of an enjoyable festival experience,” he said.
Cr Walker said while many visitors from interstate and overseas come to the national festival, the attendance of day trippers from Sydney, Canberra, Wagga, Orange, Goulburn, Griffith and Dubbo was also on the increase.
He said while Young is best known for the cherry harvest there was also keen interest in the harvest of other fruits grown in the district such as plums, peaches, nectarines, apricots, pears, apples and prunes.
