Warruwi Mini Festival goes ahead - with a few snags

THE Warruwi Mini Festival very nearly didn’t go as planned on 26 November, what with rain, power cuts, and a box of barbecue sausages literally up in the air until the last minute.

But West Arnhem’s fantastic community spirit brought it all together in the end, with dodge ball and soccer, a basketball tournament for men and women, 3-point hoop shootouts at half time, a dance demo by local kids, a free sausage sizzle, sliced fruit, and glow toys for the kids.

The Heart Foundation team also had healthy cooking demonstrations plus lots of giveaways.

West Arnhem Regional Council (WARC) Services Manager Kupa Teao said that although planning for the festival began in October, things were a little hectic just before the festival was due to get underway at 3.30pm on Wednesday.

“It has been raining for the last half hour, and now the power is off, so good times,” Kupa reported to The Wire at crunch time. “I have lots of volunteers cleaning the hall, contractors doing some last-minute work on the water supply for the Rec Hall, and one of the old ladies here has turned up and started cooking bush tucker. The Heart Foundation mob have set up a few tables and are gearing to go.”

The sausages for the mini-festival were a mini-drama in themselves, with WARC staff in Jabiru whisking them from Gunbalanya to Warruwi in the nick of time. Thanks to Chrissie Nichols at Community Care in Gunbalanya, a fortuitously unrelated charter flight, and Deputy Mayor James Marrawal, the 14kg box of snags touched down at Warruwi Airport just as the barbecue plate was heating up.

Kupa thanked Shane and Maria from Gunbalanya Meats for their donation, saying the Warruwi mob were very impressed with the gift from another community.

“On behalf of the entire Warruwi community I would like to thank you for your support and wonderful contribution to our barbecue on the day,” Kupa said.

“This event was a huge success, we had an amazing turnout of community members, lots of games and activities for all ages, entertainment and so on. This could not have gone ahead had it not been for the generous support from the local businesses and government groups. Luckily I had support from the Heart Foundation team, West Arnhem Regional Council staff, and the entire community.

“Police, local school teachers, clinic staff all turned up and joined in the fun, and it was great to see our Night Patrol team in uniform. Great to see everyone come together to get this off the ground.”

Staff in Jabiru were equally pleased to see the sausages get off the ground. Many thanks to Jabiru Foodland for the use of their coolroom and to Kakadu Air.