Originally Published August 5 2022
MALLEE Machinery Field Days have staged a “spectacular comeback” and are on the cusp of a whole new era which will financially underpin its ongoing success.
Field Days’ secretary Matt Brady says from 2023, the event will have its first major sponsorships – and they have already started signing them.
As towns go, Speed is a minnow. Its postcode, 3488, is 44 times its population. But two days every year its population explodes, turning it into a mini metropolis.
Although a few went missing at the last minute this year, victims of Victoria’s very high COVID numbers.
Matt says they had hoped for 6000 people through the gates across Wednesday and Thursday, but by the time volunteer staff had ushered out Day One’s last visitors, he says they were already within reach of that magical benchmark.
Instead, Matt was targeting 8000-9000 coming through the gates across the two days, buoyed by the brilliant weather, a massively re-enthused committee and possibly the biggest number of exhibitors since the field days started.
With exhibitors and visitors coming from across Australia, Matt says people were still seeking accommodation in the days leading up to the event, such as one in the Barossa Valley wanting rooms for 12.
“We thought it was going to be a bit of a shambles, right up to Tuesday night, when howling winds blew a few tents across the paddocks,” Matt says.
“With 230 outdoor exhibitors (an increase on 2019) and another 120 inside we had 110 who were carryovers from the cancelled field days,” he says.
“This has been a spectacular comeback and reflects on a lot of work by Speed Lions under president Jacko Kiley – we might have a small town but the club has 28 pumped members and we’re all excited by the sponsorship.
“That includes O’Connors, Case IH, Nutrien Ag Solutions, Haeuslers, Emmetts, and web designer Bell Digital, currently doing a new website for the field days.”
