Wellington Strawberry Fete returns: ‘The town has never looked so good’
Community pride is surging at Wellington after the 2022 fete, the first in three years.
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Every community deserves to be celebrated.
On Sunday, for the first time in three years, Wellington got its turn.
A bumper long weekend crowd turned up to the town’s annual strawberry fete, spurred on by a liberal dose of spring sunshine and a sense of having missed out since 2019.
“It’s wonderful,” said local Sandy Brion.
“Awesome,” said stallholder Lisa Cheso.
“Fabulous,” said artist Leanne McCulloch.
Between 600 and 700 people were expected at the four-hour event, but at least half that many had already come through by midday.
Assembled around the Wellington hall were about 25 stalls selling everything from children’s lucky dips to hot dogs and holidays, plus a classic car display by members of the Auto Collectors Club of Murray Bridge.
Inside was the official excuse for the day: strawberries, punnets and punnets of them, served with ice cream, whipped cream or pavlovas.
Funds raised on the day would be used by the Wellington Progress Association for projects around the town, president Steve Morcom said.
Among its current priorities were walking paths and fences at Murrundi Reserve, an area of turf out the back of the hall, and perhaps a community vegetable garden.
Over the past six years, progress association members had put 25,000 hours of volunteer work into local projects, Mr Morcom said, backed up by more than $1 million worth of investment from the Murray Bridge council.
“The town has never looked so good,” Mr Morcom said.
“(That) brings the community together – the community are proud of the joint now instead of it being the arse end of the river.
“We wouldn’t have a community like this without the volunteers.”
