12,000 people attend fabulous 40th Moondyne Festival

By Jean Melhuish-Hill
WE ARE not sure we could have asked for a better day to celebrate the 40th anniversary
of Toodyay’s highly popular Moondyne Festival.

It’s estimated that over 12,000 people attended on the day.

It was a very big crowd, and apart from many locals enjoying the day, we had people come from the surrounding Wheatbelt  as well as many travelling from Perth, Rockingham, Mandurah and other towns.

The large crowd arrived by train, car and bus to enjoy the festival and what Toodyay has to offer.

Family and friends of Toodyay residents came up for the weekend and the Silver Possum Caravan Club and many other tour groups made Toodyay their destination for the event.

We were also reported on the international news in Germany, Romania and Scotland.

There was a variety of entertainment from Duidgee Park through to Newcastle Park as well as stalls, sideshows, demonstrations and our Walk Trail Competition.

Our local traders had a very busy day as well as the various community groups
throughout Toodyay.

It was great to see the shop staff dressing for the occasion as well as many of our stall holders.

When some of the newer stallholders discovered our costume loan facility, we had a last-minute rush on costumes at about 6.30 am on the day of the festival.

We also had a 30 per cent increase in costumes available this year with many having been donated by other local groups or found by volunteers in some of the most unusual places and others that were specifically made to add to our collection.

Community support is an integral part of making this event a success.

Our sponsors are another important support in providing the funding and a range of giveaways that we were able to distribute.

A new one this year was our herb and vegetable seed grow station with the seeds
and soil being provided by Healthway.

It was great to see both the young and not so young checking out what we had, how to
plant and grow and heading home to set up their seed-raising station.

Hopefully, there will be many carrot, tomato, broccoli, kale, or basil plants raising their heads in the not-too-distant future.

We would like to thank our sponsors, Tourism WA, Healthway, the Bendigo Bank Toodyay and Northam, TRE Real Estate, the State Government, Toodyay Op-Shop, Makit Hardware and Chalice who provided the funding for the event.

The other very important people are the organizing committee and the volunteers who help in the lead-up to and on the day of the event.

Whilst the committee works diligently throughout the year ensuring we have a variety of entertainers, stalls and facilities, it is the week prior that residents start to see
things coming together.

We have several regular participating volunteers in Toodyay Locals Care, Moondyne Men and Toodyay SES.

We also have several not only residents but Perth-based volunteers.

One of our newest volunteers who came up the hill to give us a hand was surprised by the amount of organization that was required to meet, greet and assist the stall holders, in
getting them into place in the main street before the event could start.

We hope we haven’t scared him off.

One of our two competitions this year was the Walking Trail which was sponsored by
Fuel to Go & Play and Healthway donating a FitBit for the winner.

This took you on a tour around Toodyayfinding the answers to five healthy eating
questions.

Congratulations to Shane Wynn, SamaraMcClelland and Jodi Kelt who won the prizes.

Our annual Floozie Competition was wellsupported and great laughs for all.

Well done ladies.

If you would like to get involved in organizing the 2025 festival or in joining our volunteer team, please email moondynecommittee@gmail.com.