ONCE a regional hub for the growth of apples and pears, a large-scale bushfire in 1965 saw some 250 hectares of Tallong’s orchards effectively wiped out.
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This Sunday, the small Southern Tablelands village will celebrate its heritage with the 10th annual Apple Day Festival.
Thousands of people are expected.
Member of the organising committee John Lombard said the event was designed to give the community an opportunity to simultaneously pay tribute to the past and fundraise.
“The history of Tallong is that back in the early part of the 20th century it was a very large apple and pear region,” he said.
“Tallong was producing at one stage 10,000 cases of apple a year which is a lot of apples. Then the 1965 bushfires known as the Chatsbury Fires roared through the whole area and destroyed 250 thousands hectares of land.
"Effectively it eliminated and destroyed the orchards and it was the end of the industry.”
The festival now serves as a major fundraising event for various community groups including the Rural Fire Service, the local public school, local church and local memorial trust.
Some 50 stalls will fill the usually quiet Memorial Drive from 9am to 3pm on Sunday.
In hitting the decade milestone, the committee has ramped up the selection of events throughout the day to be focused around family-fun.
Country fair competitions including all-time favourite Mrs T’s Apple Bake Off, Fleece to Garment, Pie-eating, Apple sculptures sponsored by Boral and Apple Granny Banners will keep the crafters and food-lovers entertained.
The usual fair-day activities including rock-climbing, archery, face-painting, woodchopping and the like will also take place.
The Mountain Dew Band will perform throughout the day.
If you’re looking for laughs, the first ever Tallong’s Got Talent will take place from 11:30 to 12:30pm.
On Wednesday, Mr Lombard said the showcase had already attracted some eight entries.
“We’ve invited locals, that if they tap dance, sing, play a guitar or anything, to come along. It’s not going to be actually a competition its basically just for a bit of fun,” he said.
Most of all, Mr Lombard said the Apple Festival was the chance to showcase the charm of the Southern Tablelands to travellers.
“It’s our little corner of paradise. It’s always amazing because most people say they’ve never heard of Tallong. I tell them it’s our little corner of paradise and when people come and see it they see how lovely it is.
“It’s rural, there’s lots of trees, its bucolic and its halfway between Canberra and Sydney.”
Entry to the event is by a gold coin, with a lucky door winner in the running for $200 cash.
For more information on the festival and competition entries, head to www.tallong.com.au.
