Wait for Sweet Days, Hot Nights Festival nearly over

The wait for the highly anticipated 2019 Sweet Days, Hot Nights Festival is nearly over, with the three-day event kicking off tomorrow night.

This year’s festival will feature an exciting mix of creative fun for the kids, live music, novelty competitions and culinary delights, plus the inimitable First Fire and Australian Hand Cane Cutting Championships.

First up is the First Fire, which gets underway from 5:30pm Thursday at the Home Hill Showgrounds.

The event will mark the start of the Burdekin’s cane fire season when organisers light a one-hectare purpose-grown cane field, prompting a massive cane fire to roar through the autumn night.

Soulful singer Miella Sartori will entertain audiences from the Sweet Stage before the fire twirling Sensory Circus Tribe jump into action.

Across from the Sweet Stage, festival-goers can drum to their heart’s content with The Rhythm Connections’ drumming circle.

Returning this year is the festival’s signature art installation, the Sculpted by Fire effigy. Festival-goers can write down a secret, fear or concern and pin it to the sculpture before it is set on fire.

There’s also plenty of fun to be had on Friday night when the inaugural Burdekin Cultural Fair gets underway.

Burdekin Shire Council Mayor Lyn McLaughlin said the fair – which is happening from 5:30pm in MacMillan Street, Ayr beside the PCYC – is a celebration of all things food, fun and family.

“There will be a range of displays including cultural dancing, as well as authentic culinary delights and novelty competitions such as a spaghetti eating and plate smashing competitions,” she said.

“There will also be plenty of free activities, including a jumping castle, face painting, rock climbing wall, hair braiding and henna tattoos, plus the first 250 children to visit the Burdekin Shire Council tent will receive a free gift bag.”

Meanwhile, Saturday is all about the Australian Hand Cane Cutting Championships, which kicks off at the Home Hill Showgrounds from 11am.

Attendees can be a part of the action and vie for cash prizes by entering one of seven different hand cane cutting divisions, including the inaugural Ladies Novice and Corporate Cup.

For those not eager on testing their cane cutting skills, there will be plenty of other activities on offer including the duck races, mini quad bikes, face painting and the animal farm.

Entry to the Sweet Days, Hot Nights Festival is free.

For more information visit www.sweetdayshotnights.com.au.