It won’t be too long before there’s a sea of yellow blooms behind where Norm Kerle is standing – those blooms are the star attraction at the Mt Walker Sunflowers dinner and bush dance. In the meantime, the Kerle family has been trialling some of the coloured varieties and those ones are just beginning to show on the Kerle Family Farm at Mt Walker.
DINNER as you watch the sunset above a sea of yellow sunflowers; dance surrounded by blooms lit by party lights … if this sounds enticing then the Kerle family at Mt Walker have the perfect event planned for you on Saturday, March 26.
That evening, they will be hosting a bush dance and a three course dinner on their farm and all evening you’ll be literally surrounded by more than a million sunflowers.
And there’s a choice for this ticketed event – you can take the whole pack or you can just choose to come in time for the bush dance.
“Our event will be the first of its kind and we’re aiming to bring friendship, good food and the old time dances onto the farm,” says Norm Kerle.
“Partnering the sunflowers are established olive tree where tables will be set up to enjoy a fully catered three course meal of canapes, a roast dinner and desserts by Colonial Catering.”
And after you have enjoyed your meal, the bush dance begins.
“Our guests will be dancing on a floor set up amid the flowers and they’ll be ‘boot skooting’ to the beat of the Beefas Bush Band,” Norm says.
This value adding farm event is more than a square dancing step away from the normal work-a-day world of the Kerle family farm.
Norm’s parents bought the property in the lee of Mt Walker when he was just a toddler and in time he and his wife Sandra took over.
“We’ve done everything here from growing soya beans and raising cattle, but in the last 35 years a crop of sunflowers has been part of our life on the farm.”
A dinner and bush dance is definitely a first but he hopes that ticket sales will back his prediction that it will be a great way to bring people together to enjoy a night out away from the confusion caused by Covid.
“Gates will open at 5pm so there’s lots of light for photos among the sunflowers and the bush dance begins at 7.30,” Norm says.
And there’s more than just bright yellow blooms to enjoy.
“This year we have introduced two new varieties to our 54 acres of golden sunflowers,” Norm says.
“The new ones go by the names of Royal Velvet (deep red petals with yellow highlights) and Solar Eclipse (a rich brown centre set off by a ring of pure yellow petals with a splash of red).
Norm says the new varieties are “real show stoppers”.
“And we’ve planted them in the vicinity of where the main bush dance will take place, giving our guests a fantastic opportunity for a one-of-a-kind photograph to be taken with the family.
“We promise a truly welcoming country event on our farm among a blooming lot of colourful blooms that always seem to bring lots of smiles to everyone who sees them.”
