This year’s Jacaranda Festival’s Queen Candidates, official photograph. Image: Lynne Mowbray.

Lynne Mowbray Around 220 people attended this year’s Crowe Horwath Jacaranda Ball on Saturday night at Grafton Showground’s T J Ford Pavilion, affectionately known as ‘The Barn’. |Queen and Junior Queen Candidate’s past and present looked amazing in their elegant gowns, as they were formally introduced to those attending. This year’s entertainment was provided by popular rock band ‘Road Train’ who were joined by rock legends and former band members of The Masters Apprentices and ACDC – ‘Dead Singer Band’. Dead Singer Band came about after the death in 2014 of The Masters Apprentices band member, Jim Keays. A few of the former band members decided to form a band to pay tribute and showcase Australian music’s lost legends. As the group pumped out their music, those attending this year’s Jacaranda Ball didn’t need any encouragement, taking to the dance floor. The Jacaranda Ball was the first official event of the 2017 Grafton Jacaranda Festival calendar.