HUNDREDS of locals flocked to support the inaugural Orara Valley Family Fun Day, headlined by ‘The Voice’ finalist Mick Harrington, last Sunday at the Golden Dog Hotel Glenreagh.

Festivities kicked off at 11am with face painting, jumping castles, giant chess, Connect 4 and Smiley Squad superheroes – Spiderman and Super Girl.

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The Coramba and Karangi Rural Fire Brigades had their fire trucks on show as the fire fighters provided fire safety education and taught the children how to use a fire hose.

Orara Valley Axemen Rugby League players gave lessons in tackling as the next generation of rugby league players showed their enthusiasm for the game.

Local band Pleasing George got the party started at 12 noon with some Louisiana blues and the music continued throughout the afternoon as local musicians of all ages performed at the Open Mic event.

Australian country music singer Mal Winckle entertained with his unique bush ballads and set the stage for Mick Harrington to wow the crowd.

The ‘lawnmower man’ from country Victoria captured the heart of the nation in last year’s Channel 7 hit TV program ‘The Voice’ with his big voice and heart of gold.

In the blind auditions, Mick won over celebrity judges Keith Urban, Guy Sebastian, Rita Ora and Jessica Mauboy with only four words, ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’, as all four judges turned around and fought over Mick.

Mick chose Jessica Mauboy’s team and together they made it to the finals as over 1.2 million Australians tuned in every week to watch the show.

Down to earth, Mick captured the hearts of the local crowd at the Golden Dog as he wandered around the Orara Valley Family Fun Day buying tickets for the meat raffle, talking to families and having selfies with the crowd.

When the self taught singer hit the stage his big voice echoed through the Orara Valley to the delight of the crowd who cheered every song and didn’t want the show to end.

Members of the enthusiastic crowd left event organiser John Logan with the question, when is the next one?

“We are hoping to make this a regular event, as you can see it’s very popular with the community who have come out with their full support.

“This event was made possible thanks to funding from the Regional Tourism Bushfire Recovery Grants Program, which we are so grateful for.

“This is the very first Orara Valley Family Fun Day, we hope this year will be a better year and this is a great start,” said John.

Rebecca Turnbull, Captain of Coramba Rural Fire Brigade, reflected on the unprecedented bushfire season which tore through the region.

“It was an unprecedented fire season, dry weather conditions, strong winds, no moisture, it was too dry you could say.

“Nana Glen and Glenreah were hit, Glenreah was the first to be hit and then that fire pushed through into Nana Glen.

“We started in mid August 2019 and went straight through to mid January putting out local fires and also working out of the area and across the state.

“A lot of people across a lot of regions were evacuated, people lost their homes in the fires and for the general public and ourselves it was a terrifying season.

“Today is an amazing day, the sun is out and we’ve had lots of rain so it’s a great day to celebrate,” said Rebecca.

By David WIGLEY