Festival shakes off the shivers

WE'VE come through mid-winter and out the other side ready for spring. It’s no wonder that Ella Monks, 4 and sister Lily 6, were in a celebratory mood yesterday.

The girls joined thousands of families for the final day of the Huon Valley Mid-Winter Festival, taking part in children’s storytelling, fancy-dress competitions and plenty of grooving to live music.

Organisers say more than 18,000 people turned out over the weekend, culminating in Saturday night’s procession and wassail aimed at awakening the apple trees ready for the oncoming season. FULL REPORT PAGE 7

THANKS to colour, fire and music, the evil spirits have been banished and dormant apple trees woken in the Huon Valley.

More than 16,000 people poured through the gates of three-day Huon Valley MidWinter Festival, which came to an end yesterday.

Festival manager Krystal Cox said the crowd was brimming with good intentions: “Good intentions for the valley and for each other, and of course for the next apple harvest,” she said.

Cameron and Linda Crawford, their son Baxter, and niece Matilda Forrest got into the spirit yesterday with pagan-inspired costumes.

Although they have been to previous festivals, it was the first time the family members dressed for the occasion. They also pocketed prizemoney for being named runners-up in the family fancy dress competition.

The Mid-Winter Festival is based around the wassail – which was held on Saturday

night — a tradition from England’s West Country that is said to wake up the dormant apple trees and ward off evil spirits.