THE Mukinbudin community celebrated the centenary of the first farming settlement in the area with a big celebration on September 4.
Hundreds of locals and visitors gathered in the town for the event, which was part of the town’s four-day 13th annual Spring Festival.
The Spring Festival also included an art exhibition, with the Bendigo Bank art prize going to Linda O’Brien and highly commended to Marnie Giroud while Mukinbudin District High School won the school art prize.
As a celebration of 100 years of heritage, seniors played a special role in the celebrations and more than 80 seniors were treated to a special day out on the Thursday of the Spring Festival which included a free morning tea and a tour.
The seniors were also invited to tell stories about Mukinbudin, which were recorded as an oral history record.
The main event was the market day on Saturday, which included stalls, show bags, live entertainment, a motocross demonstration, clowns, a car show including vintage cars from local car clubs and blade shearing displays to show how it was done in the old days.
To celebrate 100 years of farming, a photographic display was set up in the Mukinbudin Men’s Shed depicting 100 years of farming heritage.
The Tyremart ‘Muka Mile’ was a highlight of the day, with 20 runners competing in the race around town and raising $700 for the Mukinbudin Planning and Development Group (MPDG).
The winning runner with a time of four minutes and 56 seconds was Derek Cronje, followed by Blake Smith with a time of five minutes and six seconds and Gerard Shadbolt finishing third with five minutes and 10 seconds.
Meanwhile the Ami Shepherd Memorial Cake Competition was judged and was won by Rhett and Campbell Brandis out of 31 entries.
At the oval a 20-20 exhibition cricket match was played between Perth District Club and the WA State Police Cricket Team.
Four locals helped the Perth District Club win by two runs in the last over – Blake Smith, Tim Paterson, Brad Palm and Simon Comerford.
The event finished off on Saturday night with fire twirlers, fireworks and a popular old-time barn dance.
The live band from Perth had a name fitting for the occasion – The Pioneers – and had everyone dancing late into the night.
The organisers thanked all the sponsors and volunteers who helped make the event a success.
