Congratulating the Lucindale Lions for the Field Days 2023
29 June 2023
I rise today to recognise and congratulate the organisers of the Lucindale South-East Field Days, in particular the Lucindale Lions Club and their committee for their hugely successful event in 2023.
The 43rd Annual Field Days were held on Friday 17th and Saturday 18th March at Yakka Park in Lucindale.
For those of you in the house who don’t know - Lucindale is a small rural town and district around 3 ½ hours south-east of Adelaide.
It has a dynamic community which rallies together to help the Lucindale Lions Club run the Field Days.
For an impressive 17 years the Secretary was Lyn Crosby – this year she handed the reins to her daughter in law – Nicole Crosby – who has done a fantastic job in overseeing this event. Today, I am pleased to welcome both Lyn and Nicole to the House, along with other Lions Club members – Kevin Baker, John Motteram, Trevor (Smiley) Martin and Angus McTaggart.
Covid caused the cancellation of the Field Days in 2020 and 2021. This was a huge blow – not only for the town – but for the region as a whole.
They came back last year – but numbers were down.
The South East Field Days were first held in 1978.
It’s purpose is to raise funds that can then be donated back to the local and wider communities of the Limestone Coast region.
The Field days started out with about 70 exhibitors - and back in the late 70’s - drew a crowd of around 2000 people.
Fast forward to 2023 – and the crowd has grown ten fold. This year 21-thousand people walked through the gates, and 477 exhibitors signed up to have a site.
The SouthEast Field Days are now the largest annual Field Days in South Australia.
The South East Field Days are a fantastic networking event.
So - thank you to the Lucindale Lions Club and the committee for all the work you did in making this event so successful. Thank you to the community, the volunteers, the exhibitors - and everyone who put their hands up to help.
They showcase new products and equipment and are a way for locals to compare and purchase all manner of machinery – whether it be seeders, tractors or sheep yards - down to the humble spanner, hose reel or garden rake.
A third of the crowd – and exhibitors - come from Victoria – and many more come from other parts of the state such as the Barossa Valley, Burra and the Riverland.
The Field Days pump millions into the local economy. Exhibitors spend heavily on accommodation and food. Accommodation is booked out months in advance within a 100km radius. This means towns like Naracoorte, Penola, Kingston and Robe all benefit.
As you can imagine – it takes a small army of people to make this event happen. This year, the organisers needed a workforce of around 350 volunteers.
The Field Days committee then ‘pay’ the charities or local sporting bodies who provides these volunteers – resulting in them receiving valuable income.
In 2023 - 24 different charities or sporting groups benefitted from the event to the tune of 15 and a half thousand dollars ( $15,500).
Other charities earn money through catering for the thousands of people who attend.
This year the Lucindale Lions Club raised and impressive $100,000 through its gate and site fees.
This money is used to generously support charities such as cancer research, fund local community projects, scholarships and school excursions.
To date the Lucindale Lions have given more than two million dollars to local, national and international charities. Donations have gone to a wide range of projects such as:
- A CT scan for the Naracoorte Hospital
- The community pool in Lucindale
So – thank you to the Lucindale Lions Club and the committee for all the work you did in making this event so successful. Thank you to the community, the volunteers, the exhibitors – and everyone who put their hands up to help.
Thank you to everyone who walked through the gates and helped make this a Field Days to remember.
I urge anyone who hasn’t been before, to take a drive to our wonderful South-East and head to the 2024 Lucindale South-East Field Days. I know it will be another hugely successful event.
Thank you.
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