The Seasons of New England expo has come a long way, celebrating its 10th year in style on Saturday, March 25.
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Up to 6000 people were expected at the event in Uralla, but given the success on the day director of the expo Tara Toomey said that should be considered "a conservative estimate".
"We had people from every state in Australia and a couple of international visitors," Ms Toomey said.
Originally a market designed to highlight local crafts, this year the expo swelled to encompass a wide variety of foods, desserts, and a marquee with nearly 13 hours of uninterrupted live music.
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"We started this as a small family business thinking we'd have 30 stalls once a year. We did not expect this to go from that to where we've ended up," Ms Toomey said.
Where Seasons has ended up is an event hosting 120 stallholders and several thousand patrons, making this year their biggest expo to date.
"It was an amazing turnout despite the fact we had a gentle rain almost all day ... everyone was amazing, they just turned up with umbrellas and didn't care, no one batted an eyelid," Ms Toomey said.
The expo also kept its unique small-town industry charm, proudly displaying hand-poured candles, hand-made clothing, unique jewellery, hand-made shoes, brewery sausages, cool climate wines and artisan spirits.
The event is estimated to inject somewhere between $1-1.4 million into the local economy, and Ms Toomey said she thinks this year will be in that range, despite the cost of living crisis concerns.
"I think right now there is a real anxiety around money and our economic situation as a society ... but I was relieved to hear from many stallholders that the day was their best ever or close to their best day ever," she said.
Ms Toomey said future years might not be quite as big, since the funding for the music marquee was a one-off grant from the state government, but her family-owned company would do their best to keep highlighting the best wares the New England region has to offer.
"Running something like this as a private entity is frightening. We started planning for 2024 about six months ago, to be honest ... but our family gets a lot of joy in seeing the vendors enjoy it and seeing the patrons come and have such a good time in a little town in a really country setting, it's pretty special," she said.
Ms Toomey said the event saw well-behaved crowds, not even a hint of littering, despite the town tripling in population for the one-day event.
"We really appreciate the way [the customers] are so respectful of the fact that this is run by a small family business and we're doing our absolute best to make sure it's a good experience for them," she said.
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