Cowra Gets In Christmas Spirit

Cowra has proved it has a true Christmas spirit this year, with a number of local events taking place to celebrate the festive season.

It all started with the Cowra Christmas Festival on Friday, 1st December, which has been succeeded by other events including the Cowra Christmas Lights Competition, Carols in the Park, and the Waugoola RFS drive by.

Cowra Tourism Corporation takes the lead on the Christmas Festival and Christmas Lights Competition.

Manager Kurt Overzet said the Festival was a huge success that saw thousands of locals and people from out of town turn out to Kendal Street to check out the market stalls.

“We had close to 90 market stalls on the night, even bigger than last year, and the turnout was absolutely massive as we estimate we had an attendance of over 5,000 people,” he said.

“The particular highlight for the night was the amount of local businesses that were open and taking advantage of late-night trading during the event. The main purpose of the event is to encourage foot traffic into local businesses on the main street and we feel that we certainly achieved that.”

He said there are $5000 worth of Cowra Cash Cards in prizes for this year’s Christmas Lights Competition.

“It’s always a fantastic way to cap off the year and we’ll be giving out free maps to participating houses as well as 3D-Style glasses at the Visitor Information Centre that turn Christmas Lights into fun shapes when you wear them,” he said. “There’s still time to register your house, as registrations close on the 22nd of December.”

Carols in the Park was hosted by the combined churches of Cowra last Friday night at Brougham Park, and was a great opportunity for locals to enjoy a free event singing along to well known Christas Carols.

The Waugoola RFS Brigade did a drive around Cowra on Monday evening, sounding their sirens and showing their flashing lights as they drove around and threw lollies out the window to kids, with Santa joining them on board.

The convoy started at the top of Bellevue Hill, weaving its way through North Cowra and Taragala before heading over the bridge and finishing in West Cowra.

The convoy featured four RFS trucks and one SES truck.

• Topics:
• Christmas
• Festivals
• Living and Lifestyle