Buy From The Bush Festival to breathe life back into the bush

This Saturday, September 18, Scenic Rim will host the inaugural Buy From The Bush Festival. Hosted by Summer Land Camels in Harrisville, Buy From The Bush Festival will provide a space for talented, rural-Australian artisans, to share their wares. 

Droughts, bushfires, mouse plagues and Covid-19 have had catastrophic impacts on the lives of those living in rural Australia, with many families forced to find alternative income streams. Enter, Kerri Brennan. Brennan created the Facebook page Buy From The Bush Queensland in mid-2018 to act as a support page for women living on the land. Brennan was prompted to create this page to support the “Aussie bush battler” while enduring a devastating 7-year drought on her family’s cattle property on the Darling Downs. She knew first hand, and through the experiences of friends, that country families were forced to form secondary businesses from their hobbies, to make ends meet. 

Brennan also knew that those in the cities would line up to support if she put the call out for help for these small businesses. This page has since grown into a massive online marketplace for makers, growers, producers, artists, and businesses from across rural Australia. 

September 18th’s festival will host a specially curated group of Australia’s best bush brands selected from the online marketplace, and other Scenic Rim micro-businesses. According to Summer Land Camels CEO, Paul Martin, this weekend’s proceedings will be the first in-person opportunity for creators of the Buy From The Bush Facebook page to physically display and sell their products. With traders across a range of exciting industries including winemakers, tourism providers, and flavour creators, this festival will highlight the perfect collaboration between showcasing Australian creators and promoting tourism to the beautiful Scenic Rim region – it is not to be missed. 

“We have a fabulous range of local artisans and producers, and I know they will be looking forward to showcasing their products at this event and growing their customer base while at the same time promoting the region as a wonderful destination to visit!” Martin said. 

Additionally, Beaudesert girl and Olympic 200m sprinter Riley Day will be in attendance, sharing her stories from Tokyo 2020 and posing with the camel named in her honour.

Buy From The Bush Festival kicks off on September 18th at 9am, and runs until 3pm. Hosted by Summer Land Camels at 8 Charles Chauvel Drive, Harrisville, in the Scenic Rim region. More details can be found here.