Autumn Festival a thrill for all

Spectacular hay-bale art installations were peppered around town welcoming visitors with a wonderful rendition of 'Thomas the Tank Engine' by the Borderline Arts team and the Railway Volunteers clinching first place.

Runner-up was the 'Baled up Chooks' at Peakvue Studio on Mt McKenzie Road. With the Mind Us Cow and Tenterfield Lions finished equal for their displays on Casino Road.

"The CBD of Tenterfield was overflowing with tourists and locals, with businesses having some of their biggest days on record," a spokeswoman said.

"Plenty of people were appreciating the Autumn window and store displays as part of the CBD Window Display Competition, the results of which will be announced at the end of April."

The Festival opened with an exhibition of art at the Powerhouse Gallery where around 200 guests assembled to enjoy the compilation of works from Linda Riseley and a collection of local and visiting artists.

On what would otherwise be a bit of a holiday shut-down period, many businesses reported huge numbers over Thursday, Friday and Saturday, while Festival president Kim Rhodes said numbers dropped a little on Sunday and Monday.

"They were a little quieter than past years, perhaps due to students returning to school this week until the end of April," Mrs Rhodes said.

Attractions were many and varied, with the Glenrock Gardens drawing in visitors from across northern NSW and Southern Queensland on Friday with owner Annie Brennan-Jones saying around 700 people explored the gardens across the weekend.

"The Pizza and Pinot night at Bad Manners was brimming at the sides with Nine Year Sisters entertaining crowds," Mrs Rhodes said.

Meanwhile, Jubilee Park was packed with a huge range of market stalls, which again drew a significant number of visitors to enjoy some produce and handicrafts among other items.

Festival committee member Jessica Kennedy said this year's markets had something for everyone.

"The Tenterfield Lion's donut van volunteers were kept busy all day raising money for childhood cancer research and The Paw Patrol jumping castle was popular with the children, lots of fresh produce including Duncan's Tenterfield grown figs and Sandra's beautifully prepared hand bags, local woodwork, cooking and so much more for market goers to purchase and enjoy," Ms Kennedy said.

Rosy Carter reported similar success for the vintage car competition at Petherick Park. Ms Carter said a good fleet of vehicles were polished to a glistening shine.

"It was a huge success, vehicles were beautifully prepared and it was well supported, not only by car enthusiasts, but a lot of people just wanting to view the magnificent collection of vehicles ranging from motorbikes, caravans, a fire engine and a selection of shiny vehicles of all ages, shapes and sizes," Ms Carter said.

The Cobb and Co coach rides were a new event for the festival and festival goers enjoyed a step back in time both Saturday and Sunday, taking a coach ride led by beautiful Clydesdale horses.

A new addition to the schedule was a push bike, skateboard and scooter competition, which got into action after a few technical hitches with the sound system.

"As always, the locals came to the rescue with a generator and the children enjoyed a great afternoon of competition at the prize-winning youth precinct," officials said.

The festival also gave a nod to foodies with 'Eat Street Tenterfield' opening at Bad Manners where local musician Mitch Smith entertained around 1500 guests long into the night.

Fire pits were lit to keep warm, while guests were treated to a myriad of street food options including Korean fusion, dumplings, woodfired pizza, gourmet soup, Aussie street ice cream, gourmet pies and Bad Manner's own in-house donuts.

"The bar had a great selection of local Granite Belt wines and also the New Night Hunter Premium Lager from New England Brewing Co. in collaboration with Tenterfield's very own Quoll Headquarters," the officials said.

Two screenings of feature film 'No Man's Land' were shown at the re-opened School of Arts with both well attended.

"The Jackson Clarke Memorial lantern parade was a very moving event, with volunteers preparing almost 200 lanterns for the parade. Visitors lined the street to watch Jackson's family, friends and community move through the town in honour of this very special young man," officials said.

Rounding out some of the key events across the weekend was the ever-popular Easter Egg hunt for different ages hosted by the Tenterfield Lions Club with support from Year 12 students at the High School.

"This year the children had to find a little chicken in a treasure hunt and present it to Easter Bunny who exchanged their treasure for a bag of eggs," officials said.

"This is always a lovely family morning, it is lovely to see the smiles on the children's faces when Easter Bunny gives them a high five," Mrs Rhodes said.

Sunday also featured a 90-minute film presentation by Peter Harris titled 'All about Tenterfield', which included some local documentaries about finding gold, Florence Nightingale's isolation ward, the 100-year-old airmail flight, light horse beginnings and much more.

Capping off was the capacity crowd of almost 200 guests on Monday at the Tenterfield Station Homestead on Monday for morning tea with Nick Wolverson providing music alongside poetry recitals by Peter Petty.

Artisan crafts were also on full display with leatherwork, cobbling, alpaca spinning, graphite drawing, watercolour and silver jewellery crafting displays.