Actors dressed as spud diggers from the past will host bus tours of the area, including visits to local potato farms, as part of the annual Great Trentham Spudfest.

The festival will be at Quarry Street Reserve this Saturday (May 18) from 10am to 4pm and is expected to attract thousands of visitors.

Great Trentham Spudfest chair Jacinta Carboon said the reserve would be transformed into a ‘spud hub’ with hot potatoes, hot art, hot music, fantastic entertainment and lots of exciting activities for everyone to enjoy. 

“We’ve got lots of crazy, exciting, interesting things going on,” she said.

“There will be five young boys, all aged under 10, who are in a band called the Kipflers and they’ll be busking at different points throughout the day.

“A couple of them are local boys and they’ve got a little dog that will be playing with them as well.

“They’ll be decked out in outfits made from potato sacks.”

Ms Carboon said another highlight of the festival would be the Mrs P. Tati artistic project and the opportunity for people to participate in arts and crafts activities involving spuds.

“We’ve got a stilt walker and pony rides and those sorts of things,” she said.

“And there will be all sorts of varieties of potatoes sold by the local growers.

“We also have a spud diggers tour where we take people on a bus and tour of the area going out to farms in the area and take you back in time.

“We have a artistic performance around that.

“You actually get to see the spud hubs where some of these very interesting spud digger characters used to live during their time living on spud farms in the area.”

Ms Carboon said the festival would be a great family day out.

“There’s lots of great things going on,” she said.

“We’ve got our spud spruiker which is a local identity decked out in his spud outfit for the day and he’ll be keeping everyone informed of what’s going on throughout the day, when activities are happening.

“And then we’ve got a stage with live performances all day, bands playing music to keep everyone entertained.

“There is a cost for the spud tour but the general festival is free so come along and soak up the atmosphere.”

More information about the event is available at www.trenthamspudfest.org.au