Every year at the end of August Riverwood Downs plays host to the Monkerai B&S Ball – where country-hearted young people enjoy a weekend of fun, country music and entertainment.
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This year more than 800 people rolled through the gates on Friday August 24 to raise $1440 for Beyond Blue, bringing the total raised for Beyond Blue over several years to around $7500.
Three bands set the tone for the weekend with plenty of attendees dressing in cow onesies and/or suits in an attempt to break the Guinness record for most people dressed as cows.
Saturday, August 25 saw the attendees swell to 1080 for the running of the 23rd Monkerai Springers B&S Ball.
Patrons dressed in black tie or fancy dress to enjoy four more bands throughout the evening, featuring among others, Hurricane Fall and Crash Avenue.
“With the drought at its worst throughout NSW at the moment, the decision was made (with only a couple of weeks of planning), to do all we could to assist in raising much needed funds for farmers in desperate need,” said Tina Walker – Fundraising Liaison & Volunteers Co-ordinator.
“The annual Monkerai B&S Ute Show, games and entertainment became the hub of this effort and was a great success.”
There were 49 participants all hopeful to win one of the nine categories with the pinnacle to be crowned the outright winner of the 2018 Monkerai B&S Ute Show, which was won by Michael Finch with his Ute – Desert Storm.
The ute show, raffles, games, duck races, auction and generous donations raised $6550 raised for Buy a Bale – Rural Aid.
“This was above and beyond all expectations of the organising committee,’ said Ms Walker
“A massive thank you goes out to the over 100 staff/volunteers who came to help make the weekend possible, with addition of Police, security & Saint Johns who all had positive reports on how the crowd behaved and enjoyed the event.
“A mammoth effort goes into an event of this calibre.
“Thanks go to the patrons who attended, were a fantastic crowd and who dug deep to give to such great causes over the weekend.”