Horse Parade Set for Sunday

THE Scone Horse Festival parade will be moving to Sunday next year, following negotiations with the Denman Food and Wine Festival.

David Gatwood, president of the Scone Horse Festival said the change would allow for more tourists to attend the parade and was seen as a good move by other Festival event organisers.

“Clearly it’s a big move because for 37 years the parade has been held on a Saturday” said Mr Gatwood.

“I wanted the Festival to be more accessible to more people and in the last couple of years the Upper Hunter Food and Wine Festival has been in direct competition with the parade and the Scone Grammar School fete,” he said.

“I’d like to work with the Food and Wine Festival and package the weekend to bring more people into the Upper Hunter.

“Let’s get bus loads of people from Newcastle, Sydney, Central Coast and Tamworth to come here for the whole weekend.

“They can come to the Food and Wine Festival and have a great experience in Denman, they can then come to the rodeo on Saturday night and stay overnight in Scone, the parade Sunday morning, fete in the afternoon and they can go home Sunday afternoon having had a great experience in the Upper Hunter,” he said.

“It will also ease the access to White Park because it is a busy area with trucks for the rodeo and for the parade, so that will make things easier as well,” David Gatwood said.