Discovery Day at Trentham’s Spudfest is Sunday, May 4, 10am to 4pm.

It’s a prime time to slow down and explore all that Trentham and the region has to offer, festival organisers say.

Those who get along to the upcoming annual feature festival will have the chance to catch the ‘Digging Deep: Cooks in Conversation’ event at Trentham Mechanicson Sunday morning with an all-star culinary lineup featuring: Alice Zaslavsky – cookbook author and TV host; Tony Tan – cookbook author and cooking-school teacher; and Liam Downes – regional chef from Black Cat Truffle Farm and Restaurant.

It’s allll moderated by ABC Radio’s Jacinta Parsons.

There’ll also be the chance to drop past the Spud Hub in Trentham Town Square to discover fresh spuds,
delicious farm gate foodie trails, or join a local farm tour.

Festival-goers can also sign up for The Great Spud Scavenger Hunt, take a gnocchi-making class, enjoy the Red Beard Bakery Scotch Oven tour, or spend the day eating spudtastic dishes at venues across the region.

Link: www.trenthamspudfest.org.au/

Jenna Bruton carries her family’s farming heritage with pride. As part of a four-generation Trentham spud farm family and an AFLW premiership player for North Melbourne, she understands the power of hard work, resilience and community.

Jenna’s family will be selling their spuds at The Great Trentham Spudfest Railway Precinct on Saturday and at the Spud Hub on Sunday.

Trentham’s beloved annual festival is back on May 3 and 4, serving up a weekend packed with spud-filled fun. 

The Great Trentham Spudfest isn’t just about potatoes (okay, maybe it mostly is) – it’s also a celebration of the vibrant Trentham community spirit and proud potato- growing heritage. 

Once a shy, humble tuber hiding underground, the potato finally gets its moment in the sun, basking in the spotlight with festivities dedicated to its starchy greatness and showcasing the very best this spudtacular region has to offer. 

This year, there are two days of fun-filled events, with activities for all ages, held against the backdrop of spectacular autumn colour. 

Trentham Spudfest  Trentham celebrates its long history of potato growing with The Great  Trentham Spudfest, a community-led festival bringing together local potato growers, artisans, music, food vendors, and history to showcase the region’s  finest offerings across the weekend of May 3-4.  

This year marks the 17th iteration of The Great Trentham Spudfest, though the  deep red volcanic soils of the district have provided perfect potato-growing conditions since the 1860s.  

The two-day event, held against a backdrop of spectacular autumn colour, attracts  over 8000 visitors and is hosted throughout the historic town of Trentham and  surrounding districts.  

Festival coordinator Kye Theobald says Spudfest remains a largely free event, with  a selection of specially curated activities requiring tickets.  

New for 2025 is the inaugural Digging Deep: Cooks in Conversation event on  Sunday morning, featuring award-winning cookbook author and TV host Alice  Zaslavsky, local chefs Tony Tan and Liam Downes, and moderator Jacinta Parsons at  The Mechanics Trentham.  

The festival runs a different program on each day.

“On Saturday, our legendary Street Fair is held in the heart of Trentham town,  with four main precincts packed full of spud food, fresh regional produce, our local makers market, live music, and of course the fabulous Spud Olympics. It’s a  great carnival atmosphere,” says Kye.

“And if you want to buy a bag full of famous  Trentham spuds, Saturday is the day all our growers are in town.”  

Visitors can also join a Trentham Historical Society-led bus tour of the heritage protected Spud Huts, dotted across the local landscape.  

Saturday evening the fun continues with the Spudfest Cèilidh, a family-friendly  celebration of Celtic music, food, and dancing, to mark the halfway point of the  festival.  

On Sunday, Trentham Town Square will transform into the Spud Hub, with  freshly harvested potatoes on sale, exclusive Spudfest merch, details about all tours  and trails, and sign-ups for the Scavenger Hut.

There will be horse and cart rides,  guided historic walking tours and Red Beard Bakery tours.

Link: www.trenthamspudfest.org.au/  Words: Contributed | Image: Karen Malbon  

For one weekend every autumn, Trentham is all about the humble potato.

The Great Trentham Spudfest is a community festival that brings together potato growers, artisans, music, food vendors and history to showcase the region’s finest offerings and products. The festival is on Saturday, May 4 and Sunday, May 5.

“Spudfest 2024 promises to be bigger and brighter than ever before, celebrating our region’s potato culture and history, but most of all, our community,” says festival coordinator Kye Theobald.

“Spudfest is still a free event (but) we are also introducing some specially curated events that will require a ticket. Celebrating our great potato region across two days is a great opportunity for visitors to stay and plan a full weekend of discovery with friends and family.”

On Saturday, May 4, Trentham comes alive with Spudfest’s traditional carnival day, with four main precincts in town packed full of spud food, fresh regional produce, artisan makers, live music, horse and cart rides, and loads of activities for kids and adults alike.

Visitors can also join a Trentham & District Historical Society led bus tour of the old heritage-protected Spud Huts.

Local farmer and fourth generation spud grower Luke Wicker, right, will be at the Railway Precinct on Saturday selling his Kennebec, Nicola, Dutch Cream, Pontiac, Sebago and Kipfler potatoes.

“There has been a Wicker growing potatoes in the red volcanic soils around Trentham for over 100 years,” says Luke.

Saturday evening will see the inaugural Spudfest Cèilidh, a celebration of Celtic music, food, and dancing, at The Factory on Market Street, with catering by Emma James Catering. Tickets for this event can be purchased via the Spudfest website.

Sunday is dedicated to the discovery of food, produce, and region. Kicking off at 10am is Spudfeast, with spudtastic dishes on offer in a progressive dinner style at venues throughout the region including The Cosmo, Trentham General, Trentham Food & Wine Co., Daylesford Cider, Aterics, Blackwood Hotel and many more.

Four local farms will be conducting tours all day Sunday, inviting visitors behind the farm gate. It’s a chance to meet and hear from growers at Fleurs de Lyonville (organic flower farm), Walden Park (humanscale, regenerative, and agroecological beef), Mountain ViewGarlic (a small family-run garlic and fresh produce farm), and Little Hampton Farm, where you can discover organic cherries, berries, veggies, and heritage apples.

You can also make your own way along the self-guided Farm Gate Trail to unearth growers’ fresh produce and hidden foodie secrets or take part in The Great Spud Scavenger Hunt, join a Historical Society tour of the Trentham Cemetery or head to the RedBeard Bakery and its 133-year-old Scotch oven.

Link: www.trenthamspudfest.org.au

Trentham is working up a hearty appetite ahead of Spudfest coming up fast on Saturday May 6.

The annual festival celebrates the humble, and not-so-humble, spud in all its glory and multitude of culinary guises, and also celebrates the local farmers who grow them. It’s also an important fundraiser for the community.

Entry is free but a gold coin donation is invited and appreciated, with all proceeds raised ploughed back into the community and its local groups like the CFA, primary school and historical society.

 This May 6 Spud Fest is shaping as a cracker with numerous stalls offering locally grown spuds, prepared and presented in all manner of methods from hand-cut fresh chips and spud spirals to spud scones, potato pizza and delicious donuts.

There’s a strong focus on local makers with multiple stalls offering original craft and produce from artisan breads to gin and wines.

Volunteering to help out with staging The Great Trentham Spudfest has been a great way to make new friends and connect with the community for tree changer Belinda Tynan.
Belinda and her household shifted to Trentham from Melbourne about two years
ago and Belinda, who works in education as a consultant with Deloitte, was keen to
make connections with her new hometown.

So she signed on as a volunteer with the Spudfest committee and volunteered to
help stage the annual feature for the first time last year. She enjoyed that experience
so much that this time around she’s now serving as the committee’s coordinator of
volunteers as the town gets set to host an expanded version of the festival on May 6.
“Last year it was only in Market Street but this time we’re expanding into High
Street as well,” Belinda says. “We’ve got more entertainers, more vendors, more
makers from around the region, a classic car display.”
The festival celebrates the humble, and not-so-humble spud, in all its glory and
multitude of culinary guises, and also celebrates the local farmers who grow them. It’s
an important fundraiser for the community.
“It’s a great chance to buy spuds from the local growers including some lesser-
known and unique varieties,” Belinda says.
Spudfest entry is free but a gold coin donation is invited and appreciated, with all
proceeds raised going back into the community.
“The volunteers really make the event happen and we’ve already got a healthy
number of old and new volunteers but we could do with some more,” Belinda says.
“Volunteers do a whole mixture of things from collecting the gold coins, to
supervising the kids’ area, to helping people on and off our horse and cart, to traffic
management. We’ve also got our Burly Brigade which is our volunteers, both men
and women, who help with set up and pack down.”
The volunteers enjoy a great sense of community themselves with a special little
wrap-up session and barbecue after the event.
Anyone who thinks they may be able offer a bit of time as a volunteer can get in
contact now by emailing Belinda at belindatynan2@gmail.com

Attention all spud lovers. The Great Trentham Spudfest is gearing up for Saturday, May 6 – and it’s not just potatoes!

Vendor coordinator Susie Wyatt, pictured, said the day would not just be about
“our awesome spuds” but include music stages, community groups, a growers market
and loads of vendors.
And that is where Susie steps in.
“We pretty much already signed up all the vendors we had last year so I think that
really shows how much they enjoyed it last time,” she said.
“And we also want to expand our focus from the awesome spuds to a lot of other
really cool produce and people from around the area – we want to make the event
bigger than ever.
“Last year we had a smaller event, because of Covid, but this year we will fill the
whole of Market Street and the Railway Station along with a growers market in the
town square so those business owners benefit from the foot traffic that is generated.
“We are definitely looking for people who grow things and the more local, the
better. We want to keep it as Trentham-y or Hepburn Shire-y as possible.”
Susie said there were already quite a few new vendors but more were needed and
she had been doing the rounds of local markets and putting feelers out on Facebook
pages to find people. “Maybe those little makers who don’t have a shopfront – this is a
great opportunity for them to come and join in.”
Susie said community groups were also welcome to come along to create a
fundraising opportunity for themselves or just help out on the day.
“Everyone is looking forward to it and the committee is really excited that we are
going to have a big event again – and we really hope as many people as possible come
along and enjoy themselves. It’s going to be a great day.”

Details: Vendor coordinator Susie Wyatt at vendor@trenthamspudfest.org.au
or 0420 554 217.