Bathurst Oxbraai still cooking!
Lower attendance fails to extinguish event’s party spirit
Positive, happy and safe is how Bathurst Oxbraai team member Kate Muir described the 41st edition of the event.
Traditionally held between Christmas and New Year, attendance has in some years reached around 8,000. This year, 1,300 people came through the gates. Talk of the Town spoke to Muir at the start of the event, and again afterwards.
“Our numbers are down compared to pre-Covid-19 years,” Muir said.
“But now there are so many events at this time of year that I think we just need to work with an attendance of between 1,000 and 2,000.”
The annual event kicked off at 12pm on Friday December 29, and by the time Talk of the Town got there at 12.30pm, there were already groups putting up their tents under the trees, and on the outskirts of the main arena.
The event was started in 1982 by Francois Vosloo: that story is definitively told by David Macgregor in a 2015 article in the Daily Dispatch (see below).
The Bathurst Oxbraai serves as a fundraiser for the Shaw Park Country Club, whose facilities are used by schools in the area. Officially it ended at 7am on Saturday December 30 — but if the spirits and intentions of some of the young people we spoke to were anything to go by, it would be some hours after that when they finally emerged from their tents.
Tickets are only for adults (18 and over) and start at R200. The prices includes DJs and live entertainment, access to the beer garden and bar, camping for the night, ambulance and security services.
“The idea is to give everyone an oldschool, old-fashioned, lots-of-fun, safe space to have a good time,” said coordinator Cate Pike.
“Not a lot of people know, but it is a fundraiser for our local country club, which has facilities that the local farm schools use. Those facilities have to be maintained, so the proceeds are going to a good cause.”
Early on in the day, campers were playing beerpong, mini cricket, or just sitting around chatting.
“You can bring your own booze and we have some epic specials at the pub,” Muir told Talk of the Town at the start of the event.
An important aim is to prevent people from drinking and driving.
People who are inebriated or under the weather won’t be allowed out of the gates.
“We have 24-hour emergency services here, as well as the police and private security.
“In the end we want people to have lots of fun, but to be safe and just have a good old-fashioned ox braai.”
Talk of the Town declined an invitation to stay until the party got “really cooking around 1am”.
There had been no notable incidents, Muir said afterwards.
“The Relay EMS team were fantastic and whenever there was a concern, we made sure we were on the same page.”
Muir also had praise for the security services provided by Hi-Tec.
The smaller numbers allowed the organising team more interaction with those attending.
“It was lovely to meet some of those attending – chat, get to know them and get some feedback.
“After our debrief, we’ve come up with a few ideas that we’re looking forward to trying out at the next oxbraai.
“But generally we’re super chuffed with how things went and we’re looking forward to the next Bathurst Oxbraai in December 2024.”
How the Oxbraai started
Source: ‘Annual oxbraai party a huge success this year’ (David Macgregor, Daily Dispatch December 30 2015):
Francois Vosloo pioneered the event in 1982 at Kleinemonde Beach, as a fundraiser to build tennis courts for Shaw Park Sports Club.
He was amazed when more than 1,500 people attended.
“I thought a thousand people would pitch at most.
“The local farmers thought I was mad and so I only expected a few hundred.”
People paid R2.50 to get in — and the tennis courts were paid off after the first Oxbraai with only one ox and six sheep on the spit.
Organisers were caught unawares and had to buy 14 more sheep from a local butchery.
The event was so successful it became an annual fundraiser for the Shaw Park Country Club.