TWO months of solid entertainment are ahead for the communities of Home Hill, the Burdekin as a whole and other North Queensland areas as just about every weekend between the start of April through to early June are taken up with major events that will attract large numbers of visitors to the area as well as an economic bonanza for this district.
The feast of entertainment commences in April as the Burdekin Race Club conducts another of what is an increasing number of race meetings on its upgraded Home Hill track on Saturday, April 1.
That will be the last local meeting before all eyes aim towards the Burdekin Growers Race Day, to be held on Saturday, May 20.
The centre of the racetrack will continue to be the centre of attention on the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, April 22 and 23, when cricketers from all over North Queensland will converge on Home Hill for the annual Eugene Pagotto Memorial Canefield Ashes Carnival—with games also being held at other grounds throughout the town, including our local schools, to accommodate all the visiting teams.
In the same place on the following May Day long weekend (April 29 to May 1), it will be the Home Hill Tennis Association drawing hundreds of visitors to the town for their annual Sugar Bowl Tennis Tournament with three days of tennis action featuring over 40 teams that travel from all over Queensland. The event, now in its 42nd year, is truly iconic to the region.
On Sunday evening there will be live music, good food and great company as players past, present and supporters celebrate another year with their tennis family.
With the district’s entertainment diary starting to return to normal after the many interruptions caused by the Covid Pandemic, Saturday, May 13 will see the return to that month of the Uniting Church’s Burdekin Craft Spectacular— following on to its success last December when it made a return after Covid. (Full details of the Craft Spectacular in “Craft Spectacular reverts back to May Date”).
The following weekend, Saturday, May 20 will highlight action on the Burdekin Racetrack in Home Hill, as horses from throughout North Queensland enter the Burdekin Growers Race Day, while thousands of fashionistas face the judges in the hope of winning some of the valuable prizes that are on offer.
The popular race meeting also features the give-away of large quantities of the Burdekin top quality vegetables donated by local growers which provides a popular conclusion to the racing – before a night of music and dancing as the event continues into the night.
The month of May will also feature the Sweet Days, Hot Nights Festival, which is to be held at the former Home Hill Showgrounds on Friday and Saturday, May 26 and 27.
The event will again feature the “first Cane Fire of the annual sugar crushing season” as well as the North Queensland Hand Cane Cutting Championships on Saturday, May 27 – again a unique and popular event, especially for the many travellers in the community at that time.
The Burdekin Race Club will be back in action on Saturday, June 17, when another meeting, previously set to be held in Charters Towers, is now being held on the Home Hill track— including what would have been the Charters Towers Cup, with increased prize money for that event.
Local residents should plan early for everything that is ahead of them on the entertainment calendar in the months ahead – it is going to be a busy and rewarding time for the Home Hill community.
