Lynne Mowbray|

What would Jacaranda Thursday be without kicking off the day with a good breakfast?

This year’s free community breakfast in Market Square, Grafton, saw people queued up waiting for the 6am start.

Each year this wonderful community event keeps growing in popularity.

Geoff Jones from Holiday Coast Meats said that this year they served up just over 3000 sausages.

“That equates to 210 kilos of sausages, in total,” Geoff said.

“That’s up this year, from the 180 kilo that we served up last year.

“It’s a great atmosphere and an excellent effort from the team once again this year.

“I’m glad to be teaming up with the Independent – we all work well together and I wouldn’t miss it,” he said.

Tina from Farmer Lous said that this year their team served up: seven boxes of bananas, three boxes of apples (one box granny smith and two boxes of pink ladies), one box of ‘Rico’ pears, two boxes of oranges and 300 kilo of watermelon (which included yellow champagne melon).

Norco milk served up around 1600 units of flavoured milk (around 800 litres) – which was pretty much on a par with last year.

Breakfast announcer from 2GF, Richie Williamson said that this year’s breakfast was tremendous.

“We’ve probably served up about 3000 breakfasts in 2 ½ hours,” Richie said.

“We’re proud to be able to put this on for the Jacaranda community every year and this year I think the crowd numbers were up.

“From the radio stations point of view and I’m sure from the Independents point of view, it’s about giving back to the community and being a part of it and that’s what we are and that’s what we do,” he said.

Each year, The Independent and 2GF battle it out for the ‘Golden (BBQ) Tongs’ trophy. This year both teams decided to have a truce and focus on the wonderful work that our volunteer fire fighters have been doing.

Money raised at this year’s breakfast went to thank the volunteers of the Rural Fire Service (RFS).

Three representatives from Grafton City and the Southampton brigades received gold coin donations and thanks, from those attending the breakfast.

“The crew (at the breakfast) were out fighting fires until 10pm the night before,” Richie said.

“They arrived at 5am for the breakfast and were back off to the fires at 11am.

“They are wonderful human beings and we are indebted to them.

“The money raised is being split between the Grafton City and the Southampton Brigade, who were out fighting a fire.

“So we thank the community for their gold coin donation on the day,” he said.

This year’s free breakfast stats:

Holiday Coast Meats – 3000 plus sausages

Norco milk – 1600 units (approx 800 litres)

Mid Coast Eggs – 1650 eggs

Tip Top Bread – from Woolworths – 300 loaves, 50 up on last year.

Grafton Hire – tables

Elgas – BBQ’s

Please support the businesses that support this wonderful FREE community event.

Thank you to all the businesses and sponsors of the Jacaranda breakfast.

Check out what some of The Independent crew had to say about this year’s Jacaranda breakfast.

Congratulations once again to the local business houses for the wonderful support they’ve given to the Jacaranda breakfast.

The amount of food, equipment and volunteers needed for this annual event is big!

As manager of the local Independent newspaper, I find this event great for the community as we all come together to celebrate Grafton’s amazing Jacaranda festival.

I just love the display of purple and the great vibe that emanates from the people each year.

We love to partner with the 2GF crew, as we go head to head to see who can serve the most sausages on the day.

With luck, will see you all next year…..  

Clarence Valley Independent – general manager – Anne Mazzitelli

Wouldn’t miss it for the world, we have a great laugh…

Love the fact that we can come together with the crew from 2GF, Holiday Coast Meats, Farmer Lou’s, Norco and other, including all our wonderful volunteers.

It’s a great opportunity to say g’day and to give back to the community that support us – and to give ‘Richie’ a bit of stick.

Sales manager – Fran Dowsett

I have been doing Jacaranda Breakfast for the last few years now and will continue to do so. It’s an early start but well worth the effort. We serve a lot of breakfasts and see a lot of smiles as we do so. People are lined up, even before we start serving at 6am. Its a few hours of fun before we head off to work in Yamba, but in the end it’s very satisfying, having fed the whole of Grafton on Jaca Thursday.

Receptionist – Neve

I’ve only worked at The Independent for a few months and this was the first time I’ve worked with the team at the Jacaranda breakfast. I had a great time and I was surprised at the amount of people at the Jacaranda festival, so early in the morning.

Production assistant – Caitlyn Roots

The Jacaranda breakfast is always a must-do event, on my calendar. 

Each year we look forward to the friendly rivalry with 2GF, as we endeavour to outdo each other, to serve up the most sausages to the community.

It’s great to catch up with our readers and we thoroughly enjoy the fun atmosphere of this wonderful community event.

Photo/journalist – Lynne Mowbray

I’ve worked at the Independent for nearly 10 years and this is the first time I’ve been able to attend the Jaca Breakfast. I was very impressed at how well the community support this event.
It was a great morning and well worth the early start to be part of the fun!

I’ll definitely be back next year.

Graphic Designer – Chloe Billington