With creamy gold, fluffy flesh and a delicious savoury and nutty flavour, this heritage variety of indigenous Phureja potato from Peru is ideally suited to roasting and makes fabulous chips.

The first 20 kg bag of ‘Mayan Gold’ potatoes released for sale was auctioned at the 2017 Festival, with lucky purchaser Andy Divall, from Divall’s Earthmoving and Bulk Haulage snagging the special spuds with his $1,000 dollar winning bid.

Proceeds of the potato auction are split between contributions to the Upper Lachlan Foundation (ULF) and to the costs of running the annual potato festival.

ULF president Garry Kadwell was delighted to receive a cheque for $500 from 2017 Crookwell Potato Festival committee members Jan Pont and Marg Anderson.

Mr Kadwell is looking forward to receiving an even bigger cheque for the Foundation after this year’s Crookwell Potato Festival, which is being held on Saturday, May 12.

“This year’s festival will see the release of another outstanding gourmet potato called ‘Andean Sunrise’, which can be described as a tamed wild potato from the high Andes. It has golden, buttery flesh, and is great for salads or frying,” he said. 

He said there was already strong interest in the new variety and he is expecting to see fierce bidding on the day from keen potato aficionados.

“This really is a great opportunity to be the first to obtain and taste what is a truly outstanding potato,” he said.

ABC Gardening Australia presenter Costa Georgiadis will be a special guest at the 2018 festival and will present a cheque from the proceeds of the auction to the Upper Lachlan Foundation.

Mr Georgiadis is well known as an enthusiastic, gifted and entertaining public speaker.

He is scheduled to do a presentation at 11.00 am, followed by a Q&A session, immediately prior to the potato auction.

The gardener’s presentation and the potato auction are just two of the many events planned for this year’s festival.

The line-up includes live performances from a variety of talented musicians, delicious food on sale, market stalls, kid’s activities and much more, so don’t miss out. It’s going to be a ripper of a festival!

The ULF is a charitable organisation that was set up in 2011 and aims to increase and expand on the availability of funds for support for local community organisations and groups. The Foundation raises capital through memberships, donations, fund raising events, corporate sponsorship and bequests.