Hi there, and with that, the festive season is over.
I hope you all enjoyed the holiday season and took this time to connect with family and friends. After a well-earned break, the Agfest committee is back doing what we do best - planning Tasmania’s premier field days. We had our first meeting back on the 4th of February - with a RAW leadership workshop to follow up the same weekend. I have spoken on this workshop before, and we are all pumped it's finally arrived. This saw members of the committee participate to help build their leadership skills and cement the future of the organisation.
It’s an exciting time, as from the 1st of February, exhibitor applications reopened and are set to close on the 28th of February. I encourage all businesses both great and small to apply to be part of Agfest back in the paddock in August. For any information around applying, please contact Agfest via Agfest.com.au, email admin@agfest.com.au, or give Rural Youth head office a call on 6331 6154, as our friendly staff are there to help.
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With the Omicron variant impacting the state, we are confident in our decision to postpone Agfest to August 24th to the 27th with the cloud to follow from the 27th of August to 2nd of September. This will hopefully allow much needed time for Events Tasmania to review the current events framework for large scale events in Tasmania that currently sits at 5,000 patrons per day. We are confident we will see a lift in these numbers so many more Tasmanians can come out and experience Agfest in 2022.
The Rural Youth calendar is jam-packed in the coming months as we head into the Agfest 40th year of celebrations. The Rural Youth State Ball kicked it all off in early February. We will also have the 40th dinner celebration in May in our traditional time slot. This gives us an opportunity to look back on our past, and reflect on where we have come from, and where we are heading. The Woolworths Young Farmer Competition rounds off the first half of the year. The best of young Tasmanian farmers come to battle it out over a series of farm-based workshops to be crowned champion.
Cheers,
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Caine Evans
Agfest 2022 Chairman
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We are now in February and totally focused on delivering a fantastic event for all of our stakeholders in August!
It was exciting to reopen applications on February 1 and we have been really pleased with the level of interest and applications we have received to date!!
From the feedback we have received everyone is wishing us well and are pleased to see we are going ahead in 2022, notwithstanding the challenges we all face. As always, we are continuing to work with Public Health to deliver a safe and enjoyable event for all. We will keep up to date with the latest information and directives through our usual communication channels to ensure you can participate in our event with confidence.
In our 40th anniversary year, we are keen to showcase not only our event but the resilience of our volunteers and organisation. Although the circumstances are somewhat different, our current Committee and staff continue to show similar characteristics to those of the original Committee as they faced the unknown and delivered the first Agfest in 1983. Hard work, mateship, courage and humour – our team have these in spades – come along to the event and see them in action!
The countdown is on…………………….we look forward to welcoming you to Quercus Park in August!!!
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Karen Robinson
Rural Youth CEO
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Brief description of your Committee role:
Delivery of fresh drinking water to exhibitors.
Share a snapshot of your Agfest/Rural Youth history:
Agfest Volunteer 2017, 2019, 2021. Oatlands Rural Youth Vice President 2019-2020, Oatlands Rural Youth Treasurer 2020 - Present.
Why did you decide to join Rural Youth?
Meet new people, expand on my skills, organise and run Agfest.
What are the key skills you have gained from your involvement in Agfest?
Teamwork skills, multiple licences/certificates and organisational skills.
Describe the most hilarious moment so far of your involvement in the field days:
Too many to pick from.
Three words that best describe you:
Passionate, responsible and motivated.
Share a description of any other jobs/voluntary positions you hold:
Apprentice Diesel Mechanic
Describe some activities you love to do on the weekend:
Camping and exploring.
Favourite movie:
Shooter
Favourite food:
Roast lamb
Favourite book:
Tool catalogues
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G’Day everyone, since my last report we have had a busy couple of months onsite, with a couple of major equestrian events being held at Quercus Park, a couple of dog shows and a wedding.
Alongside this we have had a major upgrade of craft shed 3 completed which has seen a full power upgrade and new LED lighting, this will be the 3rd craft shed that is now fully powered which will offer more potential to a wider market of site hires.
The RY members returned after the Xmas break to hold their first working bee which saw members help me with some site maintenance and repairs to infrastructure leading into this year’s Agfest event.
The site itself is thriving with the odd rainfall day keeping a green tinge to the grass and helping to keep the tanks full.
We have lots of things happening in the months to come, it’s an exciting time to see the site coming to life again
Jade Hall
Caretaker
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