Not since at least the 1970s has a single fête graced Katamatite, but that all changed only last weekend.
The streets of the farming community came abuzz with life on Sunday, September 14 when the inaugural Katamatite Primary School Fête drew a crowd of hundreds of attendees eager to join the highly anticipated community event.
After months of planning, the success of the event surpassed organisers’ expectations, with couples, families and community members flocking through the entrance gates to enjoy various stalls, auctions and raffles up for grabs.
Katamatite Primary School Parents and Friends Committee president Jacquie Monk was part of a dedicated team of volunteers that got the event up and running.
She was overcome with the level of support the event received from the community.
“I’m thrilled, thrilled, thrilled,” Mrs Monk said.
“There’ll be things that we’ll discuss afterwards that we could have maybe done differently, but no — absolutely no regrets.
“We’re thrilled to have had the opportunity to support the school and help it develop and grow.”
Guests of all ages, from two to toothless, were entertained by a soundtrack of classic hits by the Numurkah Ukulele Club and Numurkah Band, while vendors supplied the young and young at heart with face paintings, show bags and plaster paintings.
The aim of the event was to raise money to update key infrastructure at the school, including finishing off an outdoor learning space and replacing a playground.
Terri Hill, visiting from Devon, UK, decided to go to the fête with her daughter, Liberty, and 18-month-old granddaughter, Amelia.
She said she had never seen anything like it anywhere in the UK.
“This is amazing,” she said.
“[I’ll be] taking lots of ideas back to the UK, to sunny Devon.”