MAY 2017VIRGIN AUSTRALIA 087THIS ANNUAL FESTIVAL
celebrating the produce
of Tasmania’s relatively
mild-weathered east
coast is about comfort
rather than challenge.
Held in Bicheno, two
hours’ drive south-east
of Launceston, the event
began more than a decade
ago and has grown in
parallel with the area’s
expanding and improving
food and wine industry.
Festival committee
member Jenny Logie
says they like to keep the
festival fresh every year,
but also give the people
what they want. “Everyone
expects seafood and we
absolutely have to deliver,”
she says. The festival
corresponds with prime
seafood season so there
are always fresh mussels,
scallops, crayfish, oysters,
squid and fish. Stallholders
areoten creative with
their displays and cooking
demonstrations are a big
part of the event.
For the purposes of
this festival, east coast
boundaries are extended
up to the pork and cheese
producers in Scottsdale
and even down to Sorell
near Hobart Airport. For
the island’s distilleries and
crat breweries, boundaries
are totally ignored.
The festival also
includes gin tasting, live
music and helicopter rides.
Thenextfestivalwillbe
held on 18 November 2017.
Bicheno Lions Park; http://www.
bichenofestivals.com.au.
BICHENO
FOOD AND
WINE FESTIVAL
Evandale Village Fair and National
Penny Farthing Championship“WE TRY TO discourage Lycra,” says
Evandale Village Fair organiser Di Sullivan.
Since 1983, the historic town, 19 kilometres
south of Launceston, has hosted the largest
annual penny-farthing cycling event in
the world. Heats and finals are held on
a triangular quarter-mile circuit through
town, alongside a village fair with live
music, pony rides and clowns. People
are encouraged to take part by racing —
preferably in late-Victorian knickerbockers
— or dressing up and joining the parade.
There is a ladies race — although women
can also compete in the open event — as
well as races for juniors, over 50s, over 60s
and over 70s. There is also a slow race and
an obstacle race. While some riders can
take the events quite seriously, the majority
of participators are social riders who just
want to take part and have fun.
Most of the bikes used in the race are
high-quality copies of penny farthings
rather than originals because, as Sullivan
explains, “the original bikes are now over
a hundred years old and racing is hard on
them”. After the advent of the chain-driven
‘safety bicycle’ we recognise today, thepenny farthing became popularly known
as an ‘ordinary bicycle’. But it’s a name
Sullivan isn’t entirely comfortable with.
“It’s not an ‘ordinary bike’,” she says. “It’s
quite extraordinary actually.”
The next festival will be held on 24 February- Evandale; http://www.evandalevillagefair.com.