ALL roads lead to Boggabri this week as hundreds of caravanners set up camp for the annual Boggabri Drovers Campfire.
The town of 900 will host thousands of visitors this week for what has become the Narrabri shire’s premier tourist event.
The event began in 2006 with just 27 caravans, but ten years on, more than 450 caravans are booked.
That growth led to the event winning a silver medal for best Australian festival and event under 50,000 visitors at the Australian Tourism Awards in February.
It’s a huge achievement for a very small committee of Lions members.
Event founder and campfire co-ordinator Geoff Eather came up with the idea while carting cotton in 2005.
A year later, the first campfire was held.
“I was carting modules to the gin and saw all the caravans heading north at this time of year,” Mr Eather said.
“Boggabri was doing it tough and we’re always on the lookout for ideas to help town, so we thought we’d organise an event for carvanners.
“Now they’re making special trips for the campfire, and we’re also getting the people who fit it in their travels north.”
All money raised at the family-friendly event goes back into the community, and local businesses are also benefiting from the campfire.
“It’s our biggest fundraiser for the year and a major event for the Narrabri shire, but all money goes back to region through Lions,” Mr Eather said.
“It’s a huge boost for all our businesses in Boggabri – everyone benefits from the visitors.”
The campfire activities, which include shearing demonstrations, billy boiling and damper making, farm and mine tours, live music, and antique machinery displays, began yesterday, but the vans started rolling in on Monday.
“We had about 50 or 60 come in early to get ready for it, but most of them came on Wednesday and they’ll roll out on Monday,” Mr Eather said.
The rapid growth of the event has led to big changes at the showground, where the organisers have had to upgrade the electricity network to cope with the influx.
Visitors from all states support the campfire, and it’s not just the grey nomads, Mr Eather said.
“The older travellers are our main visitors, but as the campfire grows, we’re starting to see more families.”
Narrabri shire tourism manager Penny Jobling said the expenditure across the North West was “incredible”, with hundreds of thousands of dollars being injected into the region’s economy.
“Everybody is benefiting from campfire, from the newsagents to the fuel stations and the local cafes,” Ms Jobling said.
“These people often stay much longer and they’ll stop at other places like Gunnedah and Moree, so everybody gets a little piece of the tourism pie.
“It always had potential to do well, and what’s really important is the community involvement.”
