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Lakes Without Brakes
Lakes Link News 27th March 2025 Suzanne Reeves A casual conversation and a love of cars provided the spark for a car show in Lake Grace. For many, a vehicle is a means of getting from A to B, we appreciate pretty but get a little lost on the finer details. This is not the case for Joe Goy and Greg Argent; these conversations were enough for Kerrie Argent via the Lake Grace Development Association to encourage them to go forward, create an event and give car owners an opportunity to bring their showpieces out of the shed so that we can all admire them. So, Sunday morning there was coffee, there was a sausage sizzle, there was Mr Whippy and there was cars….so many cars. Seventy vehicles were registered and there was approximately 90 on show; they ranged from trucks, motorbikes, sedans, utes and a rather nifty little 1931 Model T Ford presenting as the ‘sheriff’s ride from Cook County’. Joe estimates there was around $5.6m worth of cars on show; if there were any doubts the show would be a success the numbers (350) streaming through the gate put that thought to bed. Over a $1k was raised from the door entry which will give the Lakes Without Brakes group seed money for their next event. The Development Association backed the event; hiring the coffee van from Kulin which was run by volunteers with the funds going to the Association. Hospital staff and their plus ones were in charge of the sausage sizzle, funds from this will help the hospital buy those extras for the benefit of their clientele. Mr Whippy came down from Mundaring and was rewarded with a never-ending queue. All of the providers had plenty of customers and there were plenty of people happy to volunteer on the day; the volunteer numbers ensured that everyone had an opportunity to check out the vehicles on show. Entries came from as far afield as Geraldton and Perth with the remainder coming from the wheatbelt and surrounding shires. It worked well having it the morning following the Pingrup Races; Joe said ‘we will continue running it on the morning after the races and will look at doing some joint promotion that is beneficial for both events’. An event such as this is beneficial to Lake Grace with attendees utilizing local accommodation, fuel supplies, dining out and the grocery store. Both the Plaza and the Hotel had an upsurge in business. The prizes for the event were as follows: People’s Choice donated by Nutrien, went to Jamie Slarke (Lake Grace) with his 1971 HQ sedan. Kid’s Choice, donated by Farmers Centre, went to Tameka Roukens (Lake Grace) with her 1973 HQ Kingswood Classic Choice, donated by Great Southern Fuels, went to John and Kath Cook (Kukerin) with their 1931 Model T Ford which in John’s words he had to dress up a little to set it apart from the crowd. International Choice, donated by Delta Ag, went to Marc Sheriff (Perth) with his late 1950s Porsche 356A/1600 Speedster. Motorbike Choice, donated by Great Southern Fuels and McKenzie Home Hardware went to Terry Willcox (Lake Grace) with his 1994 Harley Dyna. Australian Choice, donated by Lake Grace Tyrepower, went to Peter Watkinson with his ? Although it’s great to win a prize I suspect the reward is the opportunity to show and talk to like minded people about the journey of obtaining a vehicle, what is involved in getting it to its current state and the joy along the way. With many promising to come back next year and bring their mates roll on 2026! |
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The Playground Is Officially Open
Lakes Link News 19th December 2024 Suzanne Reeves It was wonderful to see such a major project as the All Abilities Playground come to fruition and be celebrated as part of the Harvest Festival. The official opening was conducted by Shire of Lake Grace President Len Armstrong and Shire CEO Alan George who then brought the All Abilities Playground Committee President, Nicola Kuchling to the stand to help with the unveiling of the plaque. The Harvest Festival will now become a collaboration between the Community Resource Centre and the Shire, this will enable us to grow the event into something really special. The Harvest Festival started small, coming out of a focus on local business called Living Communities, a pilot programme that was run in districts including the town of Lake Grace in 2010. Its purpose was to focus on connection of community, imagining possibilities and an economic audit that looked at decreasing economic outflows and identifying new inflows. This was funded through the Department of Agriculture. The peak event for this programme was a Business Expo with all local businesses asked to set up a stand in the Shire Hall, nonprofit groups and cottage industries without a shop front were invited to be a part of this. This was such a success that it was decided to have a similar kind of event prior to Christmas to encourage the community to shop local as much as possible. In 2010 the Inaugural event was held in the main street of Lake Grace. It was decided to make this an annual event, organise the road to be closed to ensure safety for those attending and it was renamed the Harvest Festival. It has been held in the main street all of those years bar two when it was held in the Shire Hall. Every year it has grown bigger with most attendees being local or coming from surrounding towns such as Kukerin, Newdegate and Pingrup. Last year more than 300 meals were sold so we judge that there must have been at least that many in attendance. In the early days there was three of us juggling this event; one organising equipment, another working the doughnut and fairy floss machine and the CRC handling the advertising, bookings and any other paperwork. Grant funding enabled us to bring in some entertainment however as the CRC is such a small organisation we were well aware that we couldn’t organise too much as we simply didn’t have the resources to follow through. Santa and his elf put in an appearance, being delivered by a 1973 Bedford fire engine; it was an opportunity for Greg Argent to flex his muscles as the truck has no power steering. The heat was unfortunate but little can be done about that. All of the stalls had a good night of trade and the feedback received by the CRC and Shire has been positive. Judging by the number of meals served we had around 500 attend. If you haven’t already, there is a chance to fill out a survey and give your thoughts on the evening; please go to the Shire Facebook page to find this or drop into the office and collect a printed copy. Credit must go to Aimee Turnbull and Sally Cullen for their efforts in helping the CRC staff to manage the event and to the works crew for their hard work in getting the site up to spec for the day. The Shire and CRC have already had a debrief and will be looking forward to getting together in January to start the planning for 2025. If you would like to be a part of this process then please contact the CRC or Aimee or Sally at the Shire, your input in any way, shape or form would be appreciated. We have already highlighted some changes and improvements; this includes day of the week, start time, layout and accessibility, Santa’s arrival and delivery of gifts (we had at least 50 arrive after the cutoff). We will be starting a list of activities/attractions for the evening so we can start on the process of applying for grant funding. |