“The Bathurst Country Affair was not only the biggest event in 12 years, but a shining example of what happens when passion, creativity, and community spirit come together.”
Coordinator Tanya Schenk has described as a resounding success the 12th edition of the annual three-day event which sees activities as varied as fabric-painting workshops, bokdrolspoeg, pineapple tossing, a wheelbarrow race in the main street, tractor rides and the ever-popular market stalls.
Alongside a fantastic variety of food and drink, there were funky competitions involving burgers, specialty milkshakes and ice cream. For the foodies there were food and wine pairings and an outdoor Mystery Box cook-off in the Pig & Whistle Inn’s garden.
Crowds flowed through the village throughout the three-day event; but it’s probably safe to say that the event that draws the biggest crowd every year is the drag race. The Bathurst version of street racing is men in drag, racing in pairs, with one running as they push the other in a wheellbarrow.
The Pig & Whistle Inn cook-off was well subscribed with seven teams vying for culinary victory after being handed mystery boxes of ingredients.
The team from Stenden SA calling themselves Meat Munchers took the honours. Team leader Daniel Bergset later explained to Talk of the Town that they are all Disaster Management students.
“Our cooking experience going into the competition wasn’t the best, but we’re all pretty good mates, so we went in there with the goal to have fun.”
Their butter chicken curry with naan bread made from scratch turned out to be a winner, along with pumpkin fritters and spiced roasted pineapple as a starter.
There was a good turnout for pineapple tossing – at the Big Pineapple of course – and bokdrolspoeg at Summer Hill Inn.
Eksniedanie delighted in rainbow colours and a unicorn headpiece and the town criers were kept busy all day, criss-crossing the village with organiser Tanya Schenk to lend colour and comment.
The wine and food pairings presented by Ray Barnard-Hanekom were a highlight of this year’s BCA, with all four venues sold out.
Spotted at the wine and food pairing at The Corner Gallery were Mariesa Kotze, Anika Kotze, Cerieke Kotze and Nikita Venter. They’d come together in Bathurst from Cape Town, Joburg and Pretoria to celebrate Mariesa’s birthday.
“We love Bathurst – the place, the atmosphere, the people!” Cerieke said.
From the sublime to the not-sublime, she was later spotted participating in the bokdrolspoeg competition at Summer Pine Ranch.
Ron Mackenzie, of Small Town South Africa was taken aback at the impressive turnout for the Bathurst Country Affair.
“It’s such a joy to be in Bathurst today,” he said. “It’s a beautiful place.”
His enthusiasm was echoed by Schenk who said the event had once again positioned Bathurst and its surrounding areas as a vibrant local tourism hub with national and international reach, drawing local, provincial, and national media attention.
“We think this year’s event set new records for participation and visitor engagement,” she said. “Every hotel and BNB in Bathurst was fully booked forcing visitors to look for accommodation in Port Alfred.”
In this year’s BCA an experimental ‘treasure hunt’ app was launched that potentially guided guests to all 20 local businesses that had affiliated with the event. Meanwhile, a record 40 vendors showed up providing interesting different food and wares to the visiting public.
In support of Bathurst’s agricultural roots, transportation was provided by an Uber-like tractor service, which transported visitors between venues, ensuring everyone could enjoy all the venues without logistical concerns.
“Through informal estimates and car counts, we estimate that more than 1,000 visitors were present in the village at any point in time, which means that up to three or four thousand people may have highlighting Bathurst’s capacity to host large-scale events and bolster local economic activity,” Schenk said.
In addition to these direct successes, the Bathurst Development Trust had engaged a Google optimisation expert to enhance the online presence of participating Bathurst businesses.
This year’s event had driven 175,000 visits to the BCA Facebook page.
“The BCA was founded 13 years ago for two main reasons: to increase turnover during off-peak months and elevate the brand of Bathurst,” Schenk said. “We achieved that.
“The BCA is by the village, for the village and this is evident in the fact that more than 100 local volunteers participated in making this event a success.
“We are incredibly proud of the success of this year’s Bathurst Country Fair. These events are essential in putting Bathurst on the map, inspiring tourism, and supporting our local economy and property markets. We look forward to continuing this momentum in future years.”
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This article was first published in Talk of the Town, September 4, 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.
