Groups of friends came from as far afield as East London and Gqeberha and set up camp alongside locals from the surrounding farms; former Makhanda school friends returned from Joburg, Tshwane and Cape Town to reunite for the evening. With good company, and Black Mamba Man the main attraction on the stage, the Bathurst Oxbraai 2024 had everything it takes to pull big crowds.
“We’re here to have a good time, with good music and good food,” was the gist of what the tent-gatherings, scattered across the grounds, had to say.
The Pogues, from Kenton-on-Sea, were attending for the third year running; The East Coast Bandits, from East London, were there for the fifth time.
There were frisbees, beer pong and mini-cricket games being played at various spots, along with plenty of just sitting and chilling with friends.
DJs would be taking the crowd through to 2am and Quade Hassim AKA DJ Willy was looking forward to the evening when Talk of the Town spoke to him.
“I’m born and bred in [Makhanda] and I’ve been deejaying for the Oxbraai for the last five or six years and I still love it,” he said.
A big selling point of the event, from the point of view of parents, is that the safety of those attending is prioritised, with security guards clearly visible, dotted around the grounds, a fully staffed and equipped ambulance strategically placed and ready, and strict gate control.
Convening team member Jamie Renton from Shaw Park Country Club and Cuylerville Cricket Club said while numbers were ower than they’d hoped for, the event was successful. Security personnel at the grounds confirmed that the had been incident free. And by the time the first athletes in the inaugural Bathurst Development Challenge returned to the finish at the other end of the showgrounds on Saturday morning, the grounds were already spotless thanks to the cleanup and logistics teams.
Numbers, at around 500, were not what organisers had hoped for (Renton had anticipated at least double that number); however, with an unprecedented kaleidoscope of events packed into the Sunshine Coast’s festive season calendar, holidaymakers were spoilt for choice.
The Bathurst Oxbraai has been running since the late 80s. The event was started in 1982 by Francois Vosloo at Kleinemonde Beach to raise money for tennis courts at the Shaw Park country club. Following a few transitions, it’s returned to its earlier iteration as a fundraiser for the Shaw Park Country Club and other organisations in the area, including Shaw Park Primary School. Benefiting from the event, too, is the Bathurst Agricultural Society, which lets the showgrounds for the popular event.
- This article was first published in Talk of the Town, January 9, 2025. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.
