ART EXPO
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New England artists are gearing up for this year’s Guyra TroutFest Art Expo.
Local artist Brian Irving said he hoped the categories would inspire sculptors and photographers from across the New England to participate as well as visual artists.
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“We’re always looking for artists and if they could put something in we’d welcome that,” Mr Irving told The Express this week.
The categories are Fishing in the New England, Landscapes – Guyra and the New England and Festival Action Shots (e-files close 5.30pm Sunday October 1 at the Guyra Bowling Club to be displayed electronically during the presentation event).
There will also be a prize for the most humorous entry.
The Art Expo will officially open at 5.30pm Friday September 29.
Junior photographers are also encouraged to enter with a special prize for those 16 years and under.
Entries for all sections close September 27.
REELING IN REGION’S BEST
It’s almost time to wet the line and hook-in to some action at the second-ever Guyra TroutFest.
The three-day event will feature a fishing clinic for the kids, fishing competitions, an art exhibition, music, open gardens, district tours and a Market Day to showcase the region’s best produce and craft.
Market Day Coordinator Beth Williams said organisers have already locked in over 30 stalls for the day.
“It will be similar to last year but a lot bigger,” Ms Williams said.
“We’ve had a great response from local producers.”
On Saturday, the street will be closed off to make way for the best in food, fishing and entertainment, Ms Williams said.
“Local eateries will all be open serving fish-related dishes,” she said.
“There will be tasting plates … trout, eggs, mushrooms, geese and there will be a jumping castle for the kids and a fish care van.”
And if you’re feeling a little bit adventurous, Ms Williams said a tank full of fish will be available to touch – similar to the tanks for tourists in Bali and Thailand.
“The fly fishing man will be doing his fly casting demonstration,” Ms Williams said.
“This year there will also be a stage with tables and chairs and the producers gazebos will be in close proximity to that.”
Musos are encouraged to enter the all-ages busking competition which is to be held on Market Day, Saturday 30.
Arts and crafts stalls are also being encouraged to apply for a stall space for Market Day.
Kids fishing workshops will run between 10am and 2pm on Friday September 29.
A CRACKING BUSINESS IN GUYRA
Eight years after egg producers, Derek and Fiona Smith, first hatched the idea to start Working With Nature – they couldn’t have known just how far it would grow.
And you can catch them at this year’s TroutFest.
“We’ve been doing the mobile chook sheds now for eight years but we only both gave our jobs away three years ago,” Mr Smith said.
Before the Guyra couple cracked into the business, Mr Smith taught horticulture and organic farming at TAFE while Mrs Smith worked at First National Real Estate in Armidale.
Fast forward and the pair have 3,000 chickens, three mobile sheds and a client base covering two states.
“It’s a bit exciting,” Mr Smith said.
“We hope to have four or five mobile sheds on the property here and then at some stage we’ll build sheds for other people.”
The sheds, which can be moved onto fresh grass, are becoming popular across the country as an ethical way to produce.
“We’ve had a few people interested in having sheds and having the fertility value of the chooks on their farm … but they didn’t want to do all the marketing and packaging,” Mr Smith said.
“So we can do that part – as long as we can have some kind of arrangement with quality control because that is paramount to what we do.”
But while the next stage of the Smith’s enterprise is still in the planning phase, original business is booming.
“About half of the eggs we produce go to Armidale and Guyra to coffee shops and butchers while the other half go to organic shops on the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sydney,” he said.
“We also had a guy move from Armidale down to Kings Cross [in Sydney] who opened up a cafe and he insisted that we give him our eggs.”
As for the long-term future, Mr and Mrs Smith are focused on building more sheds and fine-tuning nutrition.
“We’ve just put in a sprouting shed to grow barley grain,” he said.
“That has already improved the quality of the eggs.”
Mr Smith is also currently building a 12 x 11 metre packing shed on the property which will house a commercial kitchen, bathroom and a workshop to build sheds.
“It looks much bigger than it needs to be but we wanted to build something we could grow into,” he said.