Ode to the carrot next?

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 438, 27 May 1992, Page 4

Ode to the carrot next?

The First Annual Ohakune Carrot Festival, scheduled for Saturday 11 July, looks set to put the town firmly on the map. The festival will be likened to that of Taihape's reknown Gumboot Day, but with a distinct carrot flavour of its own. The goal of joint organisers, the Ohakune Community Development Team and the Ruapehu South Business Association, is to build the event up from a small local event, to a drawcard of major proportions in future years. Brainstorming by retailers has achieved some innovative festival ideas, with consideration for the usual stalls and raffles that typify a gala-type event. Just some of the ideas in the offering include: colouring competition, beer festival, photo of the week, wet sponge throwing sideshow, tug-of-war, decorated bikes,.

waiter/waitress races, mechanical bull, 9-hole golf tournament, and the newest craze- . horizontal bungy jumping. Carrot-type competitions include bestdressed carrot, best carrot recipe, carrot whitling, carrot eating, carrot throwing, and a host of other carrot-ori-entated activities. Demonstrations by St John Ambulance and Turoa Tumblers also feature in the line-up.