Crowds flocked to Beechworth’s Golden Horseshoe Festival on the Easter weekend to attend a range of events and activities surrounding the festival.
The main attraction of the three day event was the Grand parade featured on the Saturday, which involved many local schools, communities and businesses. Bright colours and cheerful music were featured this year with the Bollywood theme for the parade. The local parade participants embraced the cultural theme with bright costumes and beautifully decorated trailers. There was also a grand appearance by many regional CFA vehicles and firetrucks, which is always a popular part of the parade. Some onlookers however had to be careful as several firetrucks surprised the crowds with sprays of water from the attached hoses. Fortunately, there were no reported camera casualties.
An estimated twenty thousand people attended the annual event which many families have turned into a yearly tradition, making the trip from all over Victoria to attend the festivities. The festival is especially popular amongst young families with plenty of children’s activities being run over the weekend with a children’s zone which included classic rides such as Dodgem cars, the Cha Cha, jumping castles and more.
Locals are proud to host the festival each year believing that it’s a great way for the community to come together and support each other as well as celebrate the history of their town. This year was particularly focused on the region with organisers choosing to keep most of the catering of the event from within the Beechworth and Indigo shire region.
This decision by the organisers opened opportunities for the younger generation to try their hands at running stalls during the busy festival period. Eleven year old local, James, chose to run his own business via a stall that provided the crowds with a sweet treat of fairy floss.
The tradition of festivities began in 1855 when Daniel Cameron and his horse, shod with golden horseshoes, led a procession down the Beechworth streets. Organisers hope to keep the festival going strong after this year’s success and are looking forward to repeating the process in 2018.