Act Belong Commit Darkan Sheepfest
10 February 2024
Darkan Sheepfest is having a year off in 2025. Our wonderful committee and volunteers will be taking a much-needed break.
There will be a shearing and woolhandling competition on the 8th February, proudly supported by Darkan Sheepfest.
More Details to follow…
BEST PET SHEEP COMPETITION
We are back again for Sheepfest 2024! Our supreme champion who had it all last year was Da KING raised by Racheal Quill. Who will take out the prize this year?
Event Categories are:
Best Name Best Looking Best Behaved
Your pet could then be sashed ‘Supreme Pet Sheep Champion’.
To enter, simply post a photo of your pet sheep, with your sheep’s name, age, and home town on our Facebook post HERE.
Entries close on 1st February 2024. If you are a finalist we will be in touch then to invite you to our show.
The 2024 Act Belong Commit Darkan Sheepfest will focus on The Next Generation – reaching out to all Young Australians to ignite their passion for sheep and wool.
New this year will be The Livestock Collective’s Virtual Reality Experience. Come along and experience what it’s like on a live export ship through VR!
Australian Wool Innovation has a new Show Challenge, and Sheepfest has introduced a Toy Shearing Competition for kids. The WA Rural Ambassador and Wool Ambassador will be at Sheepfest to meet and greet, and there will be representatives to talk to about Wool in schools.
We will also have our regular events and activities including Australiana Wool & Natural Fibre Fashion Show, Sport Shear Competition, Wool Handling Competition, Best Pet Sheep, Young Farmer Challenge, Ewe Hogget Competition, Farm Boot Foot Race, Free Kids’ Entertainment, Junior Merino Judging, Market Stalls, Log Chopping, Hillman Farm Skydivers Sunset Dive, Live Band & Baa!
BEST PET SHEEP IS BACK! Make sure to watch our video tutorial below on how to take out the win!
Judged Events are –
Best Name 
Best Looking
Then your pet sheep could be sashed ‘SUPREME PET SHEEP CHAMPION’!
It’s really easy to enter!
1) Just post your pet sheep selfie or photo with your sheep’s name, age and home town on our Facebook post https://fb.watch/ioMFu4035M/.
2) We will be in touch to confirm you are a finalist and invite you to bring your pet sheep to our show.
Great prizes and great fun!
It’s that time of year again! Time to start talking about Darkan Sheepfest! This year it’s all about ‘Putting Wool Back on the Table.’ Please help us spread the word by sharing this post.
A vital driving force of the wool industry are the ones working everyday in our shearing sheds. Shearers, wool handlers and shed staff. Sheepfest is set to showcase their talents and tenacity in our Sportshear and Wool Handling competitions.
Free Kids Entertainment!
Fleece Judging!
Sheep Dog Demo!
Wool Fashion Show!
Sport Shear Comp!
Log Chop Demo!
Best Pet Sheep!
Farm Boot Foot Race!
Market Stalls Galore!
Wool Handling Competition!
Young Farmers Challenge!
Ewe Hogget Competition!
Hillman Farm Skydivers Sunset Dive!
Live Band & Baa!
We couldn’t be prouder of some of our younger Act Belong Commit Darkan Sheepfest ‘Wool Work Force’ who have been hard at work over the weekend.
The biggest colouring in they’ve ever done in a day and the itchiest they have ever been!
The filling of our roadside wool bales (albeit with harvest chaff!) is the signal that the show countdown has begun! Thanks to the lovely local farmer who was happy to help out again!
Darkan is located 200km south of Perth, in the Shire of West Arthur, within the Wheatbelt region of WA.
At the Darkan Sheepfest visitors and locals spend the whole day wandering around the show, dividing their time between children’s free entertainment and rides, the sport shear merino sheep shearing competition, sheep dog mustering, wool fashion parades and the many market stalls.
Bringing city to country and promoting the sheep and wool industry, is the main aim of the Darkan Sheepfest. It’s a fabulous day out, and a good old country show! At what other event can kids run around together and be safe and happy all day?
What makes Darkan Sheepfest unique is that entry is only a gold coin donation!
Better still, you may even fall in love with the town and our friendly locals enough, to move here!
Yours sincerely,
The Darkan Sheepfest Crew
What an incredible achievement for Darkan! No-one could ever have imagined that over one thousand people would go through the gates on Saturday 10th February for the inaugural Darkan Sheepfest.
Was it due to all the hard work of the committee and sub-committees in less than 13 weeks? Or to some novelty marketing ideas (e.g. the Sheepfest wool-bales…now that was hard work)? Or is it that people nowadays are really looking to go back to that grass roots country show where everyone can have a good time without any big costs?
The Sport Shear competition drew a large crowd and some of the best competitors in the state. This competition is part of the statewide annual circuit with the outright winners of the year being state representatives for the National competition.
Shaun Counsel from Warrening Gully, Williams, had the best ewe-hoggets. Local novice models were a hit on the catwalk. Free entertainment all day was the family drawcard. To see city kids playing so happily and being welcomed by our local kids is something they will always remember and our community should be so proud of.
The Sundowner bar didn’t expect one thousand people at the first Sheepfest either and therefore relocated to the air-conditioned sports club. Everyone was entertained by the great band Feather & Down and the not-so-great local who had a turn with their microphone and ruined a perfectly good Cold Chisel song (although still very entertaining!)
One special moment our community should be very proud of is their support of the #blackdogride. It is fair to say it is far easier to get a story on prime time news about a small town and sheep than it is to raise awareness of mental health. Incredibly, Darkan Sheepfest raised more money for #blackdogride and had more people visit their stand than the Perth Royal Show! Maybe we really do, do it better in the country! For that our whole community should be commended.
So Darkan is now well and truly on the map! The media coverage the Darkan Sheepfest received is still hard to believe. ABC Great Southern Radio & TV, Farm Weekly, Countryman, 6PR Perth, GWN News, Collie Mail, Narrogin Observer; they all wanted to tell the Sheepfest Story. We have heard it even made it to the eastern states and was mentioned by Alan Jones on Sydney radio station 2GB! There are even more media articles in the pipeline so stay tuned.
Now is the time to say a big THANKYOU to those who supported the Darkan Sheepfest and there are so many to fit in we needed to change the font size! To our sponsors for putting your dollars towards a first-time event with a possible risk of no return for your dollar: your generosity is what enabled over one thousand people through the gate for just a gold coin donation. To our community contributors, both cash donation and in-kind (equating to cash): your contribution was remarkable in its generosity but it inspired the committee to keep working hard because they felt so supported. To the pink ladies and the blue men (sub-committees) who were walking sponsor billboards, walking ambassadors and information booths and were gophers, multi-taskers, free labourers: the show would not ever go on without you all. To the community, you have all played a part in the success of Darkan Sheepfest: you came along to support it, you invited your friends and you said “great job well done.” Finally to the inaugural Darkan Sheepfest committee of only just 6; Sarah Buscumb, Teleah Higgie, Jodie King, Nathan King, Julie McFall, and Pam Stockley: you are all amazing! To not only volunteer your time to go along to an Enterprising Communities workshop facilitated by the Shire of West Arthur and Regional Development Australia – Wheatbelt, but to then spend all of your Christmas, New Year and January with ‘All Things Sheep & More’ demonstrates your commitment and showcases volunteering in this community at its best.