Nosh Narrabri, the biennial food and wine expo, again presented one of the biggest social events on the Narrabri Shire community calendar.
The weekend Nosh set a record for attendance.
Visitors began to arrive early on Saturday and stayed on into the evening for the ‘Nosh On’ concert.
The grounds of The Crossing Theatre were packed with people, drawn to Narrabri for the Nosh, spending money at the expo and in town.
“Wow, what a fantastic weekend,” said Nosh committee president Darrell Tiemens.
“On behalf of the Nosh committee, enormous thanks to the Narrabri community for its continued support.”
“We’re all volunteers, and we’re part of Nosh simply because we love Narrabri – and food!
“We really appreciate everyone who was part of Nosh – from all our sponsors and supporters, to the 40 wonderful exhibitors who joined us, to all the extra hands that helped us make the event happen, and of course, all the people who came to Nosh over the weekend: for the Food and Wine Festival, the ‘Nosh on’ Night concert and the Nosh Long Lunch.”
The 40 exhibitors who set up a variety of stalls, from strawberries and tomatoes to gin and beer, were delighted with the response from customers.
Many exhibitors reported that they sold out.
At a time when similar events have fallen by the wayside in other centres in recent years, Nosh Narrabri continues to grow and develop, thanks to the commitment and voluntary work of community members.
A main attraction for family and friends at Nosh Narrabri were the hotly contested competitions held at the main stage on Saturday.
Cody and Sam Huff claimed the trophy in the barbecue cook-off.
“It was exciting and an honour to win it,” said Mrs Huff.
“The committee does such an amazing job organising the Nosh and it’s important that the community gets involved in things like the cook-off.”
The highly coveted, cheesecake competition received a large number of delicious entries from both junior and adult masterchefs.
Merry Conaty won the best, unbaked cheesecake for her mouth-wateringly good entry and Alex Tanfield received a large round of applause when she was announced as the winner of the best baked, cheesecake category for her coconut, white chocoate and mango culinary masterpiece.
“It made my weekend and I celebrated by trying five of the other delicious cheesecakes.
“I loved the whole Nosh weekend,” said Miss Tanfield.
Eleven year old Charlie Baker won the best, junior cheesecake for his Oreo cake.
He said he was ‘excited’ by the win
but didn’t want to give away all his secret ingredients.
And Rordan Woodhouse won the top prizes in the homebrew competition.
Nosh Narrabri is the result of two years of organisation by the volunteer committee, supported by generous corporate and local businesses with in-kind contributions from many individuals, clubs and community organisations.
The Nosh is an invaluable ‘brand- ing’ event for Narrabri and the Shire, promoting the name and delivering a function that draws people from across region and beyond, including Moree and Gunnedah, Inverell, Tamworth, Newcastle, Sydney – and even the UK.
A visitor from north-east England said the Nosh was a unique festival in its concept and popularity.
“This is a true ‘all of community’ event” she said.
“We had record crowds again – we’re so thrilled that people love Nosh as much as we do,” said Nosh committee president president Darrell Tiemens.
“We can’t wait to do it all again in 2021.”
