It is often said that it takes a village to raise a child, and Walcha proved on the weekend that it takes a community to run an event.
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Despite a company going into administration, a relentless drought and bushfires closing many roads (at one stage only one access to town was open) the Motorcycle Weekend went ahead.
It seemed that everything that could go wrong did. Over a smokey weekend we saw what was estimated at 700 plus bike riders hit town and avail themselves of our hospitality.
Our local businesses put their best foot forward with entertainment, food and the support of them being greatly appreciated.
Saturday's markets saw a massive crowd and the ever popular billy cart derby saw some bike riders take a turn.
Kevin Anderson made an appearance, and delivered $4,000 to cover some of the costs and lend support.
The rodeo on Saturday night proved a big hit, with this being something that was much different to anything they had seen. Thanks to the committee for adding this excitement.
Obviously, there was not much time to pull this together, but under the steady hand of the girls in the Tourist Information Centre, Susie and Lisa and seasoned event organiser Karen Barnes it all came together.
New general manager, Anne, was thrown in the deep, arriving on the day the original festival collapsed and throwing resources needed for its success.
Finally thanks to the above mentioned local businesses who headed into uncharted waters with an unknown number of visitors to cater for but attracted great accolades from those visitors.
Our aim is for locals to take control of this and make it an annual event.
If the original organisers did nothing more at least they kick started this event and made us as a community realise that we could run this event, do it better, let Walcha make them welcome and focus it on our town
- Eric Noakes
If the original organisers did nothing more at least they kick started this event and made us as a community realise that we could run this event, do it better, let Walcha make them welcome and focus it on our town.
It also made us see what a great group these bikers are, anyone who spent time with them saw an appreciative group here for a good time and to support our town through our current difficulties.
I don't know how many times I heard "when the original event collapsed we had taken our holidays so we were still coming to support you". These riders came from New Zealand, Perth, Kangaroo Island, Cairns and all places in between.
We hope they arrived home safely and return next year.
A meeting has been arranged for 5pm Tuesday, November 26 at the Council Chambers to debrief and plot a path forward.
Everything should still be fresh in our minds at that stage and we need to firstly agree to make this an annual event, pick a date and tick a few boxes.