BINGARA’S ORANGE FESTIVAL“SQUEEZE THE DAY”.

Coextending a significant length of the grass verges of Finch Street Bingara, is a profusion of primarily navel orange trees. Their significance is often unknown to visitors to the town, a handful of whom blithely pick the citrus fruit.

The trees were planted in the 1950’s as a living memorial to the servicemen and women from the area who gave their lives in the First and Second World Wars. In conjunction with a bushrock and bronze plaques located outside the Bingara RSL Club, they serve their dedicatory purpose well.

Their conservation and preservation is the delegation of the students at Bingara Central School, who employ the moniker of The Orange Police whilst ensuring the trees are well patrolled and cared for.

As a culmination of the citrus fruit-bearing season, every year a special commemorative service is held amongst the orange trees to herald the commencement of the Orange Festival. Students and visitors are invited to pick oranges as needed, sharing the crop equitably. In 2023 the service will commence at the front of the Bingara RSL at 11am on Friday 30 June.

If a more intimate setting is preferred, you can head to the Bingara Community Op Shop from 5pm until 8pm for a $5 hot soup, admire the orange lantern display, join in with the ukulele group singalong, or stay warm close to the chiminea.

Carmen Southwell, this year’s Festival Coordinator, is understandably excited about the line-up of events, stating “Bingara has not had an Orange Festival of this size in quite some time – it is great to see such a fabulous number and variety of offerings available to attendees this year.”

Festival-focused food and entertainment contributions commence Friday evening, with a special screening of the classic movie, Grease, starring Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta. Offered at the heritage-listed Roxy Theatre, a diner dinner option featuring Boston beans, beef sliders, mac ‘n’ cheese and plenty more is available with a movie ticket for $15 commencing at 6pm, or a movie-only ticket for $5 commencing at 7pm.

If a retro diner setting is more preferred, the Roxy Café will be open from 5pm, serving Ravi Gill’s delicious curries. The café will also be open for the duration of the Orange Festival events on Saturday, and from 8am until 2pm on Sunday.

Saturday 1 July kicks off at a mid-Winter suitable 10am and will feature two standout live bands, the Rockin’ Bodgies and Lawrie and Shelley Minson. In addition, the Sydney Swing Katz and perennial crowd pleasers, the Memphis Moovers will entertain attendees the entire day.

The musical entertainment is complemented by over 60 stalls, unlimited childrens’ amusement rides for $15, paid entry to the Bingara District Museum, Bingara Fire and Rescue Station information, face painting, balloon twisting, costume competition and a plethora of other fun activities. Many local shopfronts will also offer specials and their own “orange touch” to trading on the day. The final event of the day is the street parade, commencing at 2pm which will feature vehicles from local authorities, businesses, car clubs, volunteer groups and other participants.

TraxFM will be broadcasting live from the festival over the course of the day, so if you can’t make it in person, tune your radio to FM88.0 to get a feel for the atmosphere.

On reflection, in a day and age where the world seems to be in a hasty rush to move forward, Bingara’s Orange Festival is a pleasant distraction, where a weekend is instead spent celebrating times of yore.