Community & Business
18 July, 2021
2021 Oak Park Races a triumph
THE 117th annual Oak Park Race weekend has come and gone in a spectacular blaze of colour and celebration.
BY SALLY TURLEY
THE 117th annual Oak Park Race weekend has come and gone in a spectacular blaze of colour and celebration.
The dedicated committee worked hard to deliver a flawless weekend and the crowds responded in kind, turning up, dressing up and living it up from start to finish.
Numbers at the sell-out event were capped at 1500 to comply with COVID conditions, relegating many to the wait list, but for the ticketed, distance was no obstacle with people travelling from Tasmania, Canberra and all over Queensland to attend the weekend that has become a northern institution.
Kicking off with the Meet and Greet and bingo night on Wednesday, the kids fancy dress and the Oak Park Ball on Thursday night, patrons were ready to open their wallets at the Country Casual Race day and Great Gatsby spectacular on Friday.
Saturday was all glamour with another five race program at the Fashions on the Field Races and for the racing fraternity, Presentation Night at the hall on Saturday, followed by music and dancing til the wee hours.
Throw in a couple of calcuttas and auctions, some foot races and all the socialising going on in the camps and it was a pretty full weekend.
And barring another world war or pandemic, a cattle recession, a flood or a great depression, the committee met Sunday morning to begin work on organising it all over again for 2022.
