All the elements seemed to be against the Crookwell Rotary Club’s 13th annual Swap Meet last Sunday, but after Friday night’s thunder, lightning and downpour, the weather gods smiled and the event was once again a great success.
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The threatening weather certainly had some adverse effects. The number of stalls and attendance were down around 10 per cent on last year.
Nevertheless, Rotary president Mike Walsh was able to say that the Swap Meet would once again make a major contribution to the Club’s fundraising for community and charitable projects.
“Once again, we thank the public for their support of this, our major fund raiser for the year,” Mr Walsh said.
“And our thanks, too, to our sponsors, and to Barry Jamieson, Donal Spackman and Tim Corcoran for their work in again organising the great display of classic and vintage cars by members of the Falcon GT Club of Canberra and others.”
After Friday night’s weather pyrotechnics, Sunday provided a crisp, sunny spring day that was appreciated by stallholders and the public alike.
Takings for the day, including entrance fees and proceeds from Rotary’s barbecue (the hash browns were particularly appreciated), the Rotary ladies’ morning tea room, and stall fees exceeded $12,000, which Rotarian Bill Rogerson described as “a very good result in view of the weather leading up to the event.”
The line up of vehicles that arrived in convoy from Canberra for the “Crookwell Charity Cruise” attracted around 60 vehicles, a wide ranging spectacle that was again appreciated by the public.
The prizes for the outstanding car entries all went to ACT owners. Best Holden was a blue EH Premier sedan; best Ford, a beautifully restored 1967 XR Falcon GT; best of other makes a late ‘60s white Dodge Plymouth convertible.
Bill, one of the Swap Meet’s chief organisers, paid tribute to the contribution by Paul Anderson, Jim Evans and the Crookwell AP&H Society, and Rotary’s own Gordon Grant, for the work put in to present the Showground.
Organiser Rotarian Ken Reedy added his thanks to the Show Society and to major sponsor Sydney Vintage Car Restorations, and to those sponsors who provided prizes for the lucky gate tickets.
The winners were:
- $100 fuel voucher from Crookwell Hire: Marcus Twible, of Collector;
- $100 voucher from JD’s Hardware and Rural Supplies: Claire Pitkethly, Crookwell;
- $50 voucher from Lost River Produce: Scott Gamble, Laggan;
- Dinner for 2 from Paul’s Café: Margaret Collins, Crookwell;
- Meal for 2 from Top Pub Bistro: John Lang, Crookwell.
The lucky stall holder in the draw for $50 was Philip Pisaruk, of Moss Vale.
