HEYWOOD’s Wood Wine and Roses Festival was greeted by lovely summer weather and a huge crowd.

Wood Wine and Roses president Konnor Haines said the day was outstanding and organisers were delighted.

“All of our bands were absolutely amazing. The crowd loved them. Especially our final which was Thunderstruck AC/DC,” he said.

“Wheel of death and the human cannonball brought the attention of a huge crowd

“The art and craft and photography that we had over in the footy club rooms proved to be an absolute success, and I congratulate everyone involved,” he said.

A big crowd gathered to watch the traditional street parade take off down Edgar Street at 11am, with floats fitting this year’s festival theme ‘Larger Than Life’.

Parade winners were Portland Navy Cadets for best community float, Bundarra Primary School for school float, and the Heywood Golf Club for novelty float. The overall win was tied between Heywood Consolidated School and the VICSES Heywood Unit.

Once people moved from the parade to the festival grounds, there was plenty to enjoy. Visitors had the choice of  live music and food, showbags and carnival rides, or a man firing out of a cannon.

Children had their faces painted as fairies or comic book superheros, and adults had their photo taken with Eesha the African Forest Elephant.

Others wandered through the Football Netball Club building to see all the things locals have crocheted, stitched, or photographed

Art and craft organiser Wallie Goossens said they received “a lot of entries.”

“I think once everybody knows we’re back again, it’ll be better next year,” she said.

The art and craft competition was not active last year because of having nowhere to set up.

“But as you can see, there’s heaps of entries that we’ve had. Colour is the variety of interest, and the quality of work is really high.

“All the judges have said that as well.

“The standard of entries is phenomenal. We’ve got a lot of talented people out there.”

On the other side of the festival, across the Fitzroy River and on the town green, was the roses section, sponsored by Treloar Roses.

There were 14 categories including cut flowers and floral art, and there were many people who made multiple entries into the competition.

“Normally it’s pretty bare, but it was increasing last year and then we’ve got more entries this year,” Roses overseer Leesa Thomas said.

“We had new entries and new people, so that’s awesome.

Roses judge Dawn Compton inspected the entries from 10am, judging flowers on quality and how true to form they were.

Ms Thomas encouraged more people to enter the roses section next year.

“Anybody can enter, some people are so judgemental of their own roses thinking they’re not good enough, but everyone’s in the same category,” she said.

“So just have a go.”

Other than competitions, there were market stalls to browse, plenty of food to try and daring acts to watch.

Wood Wine and Roses president Konnor Haines said he couldn’t have asked for better weather.

“I thank again the GSC (Glenelg Shire Council), our sponsor and our outstanding volunteers, and the committee.

“All of them come together to deliver a fantastic event.

“Many said they look forward to next year.”