There’s nothing sheepish about the way Colesburg residents have fun, writes Swapna Prabhakaran
It was a vegetarian’s nightmare – the clean Karoo air over Colesburg in the Northern Cape was rich with the aroma of roasting lamb chops, sosaties and wors during last weekend’s fifth annual Colesburg Sheep Festival.
For the town’s residents it was a respite from their daily prayers for rain and an exciting opportunity to have some fun.
Weekends in Colesburg are usually quiet. The receptionist at the Central Hotel on Church Street said: ”You’ve come to the wrong place if you’re looking for a rave, my dear.” On Friday nights, locals hang out at the pub on Main Street, which has a large television screen and a disco playing Bonnie Tyler songs.
But last weekend the townsfolk got a chance to show the world they know how to have a good time. The customary quiet was broken by a thousand bleats as the sheep festival took off.
With a full day of activities planned – including sheep shearing, sheep modelling parades, and the world sheep-counting competition – everyone was up early.
By 7am on Saturday tannies from the Methodist Church were setting up their hot dog stall and by 8am they were doing a roaring trade in homemade chocolate cake and ginger beer.
A travelling funfair came to town and children under 10 years got to ride on a hand-cranked ferris wheel and merry-go- round. For R5, toddlers took pony rides through town on the back of a patient brown steed.
Adults went shopping at the flea-market which was set up on Voortrekker Square. ”We had applications for 44 stalls this year. That’s a lot,” said Belinda Gordon, Colesburg’s tourism secretary. Speaking from a caravan set up in the middle of the market, she waved a toy sheep about and called to passers-by: ”Why don’t you buy one as a souvenir?”
The neigbourhood farmers were attracted by a ”For Sale” sign over a bakkie trailer, while the women sipped chilled mango juice and browsed through trinket jewellery and cosmetics stalls.
Round the corner, at Hugo Park, farmworkers battled it out to see who could shear a sheep the fastest. Under the eye of a timekeeper armed with a stopwatch, the workers tackled unwilling sheep, tucked them under armpits and began their scissor-work. A hushed crowd gathered in admiration, as the winners were judged by speed and the size of the fleece. Penalty points were taken off if the shears went too close to the sheep’s skin – the sheep complained with noisy baas.
Meanwhile at a nearby beer tent, the crowd was getting pretty raucous. ”It’s been a great day, we’ve been shopping and eating and playing and drinking. Colesburg’s not usually like this,” said Emily, a local with a lager in her hand. ”You know, it’s usually quiet.”
Two small boys, wearing home-made sheep masks, announced with placards that the world sheep-counting competition was about to begin at Strokenstrom Square on the outskirts of town. The world champion, Fanie ”Vinnige Vinger” (Fast Finger) Fourie, was there to watch over the proceedings.
The sheep were driven from one end of a specially constructed iron run to the other, and the aspirant champions stood by the fence and counted them as they went past. Round after round was run, and the contestants were eliminated if their counts were inaccurate. After 90 minutes, it was down to two people – Mossel Bay farmer, Johan Mller, and the Australian champion, grazier Peter Flynn.
For seven runs, they were both spot-on accurate in their counts. On the eighth run, however, they were both wrong. After the 10th run, the judges decided to award the contest to the man who had missed the correct figure by the smallest margin. Mller – who farms sheep and ostriches – was named the world champion.
”The competition was tough,” Mller said afterwards. ”I broke the world record counting at 7,73 sheep per second.” He said he practises sheep counting on his farm.
The disappointed runner-up, Flynn, said sheep counting is a spectator sport in Australia. ”There are big competitions like this in Melbourne and Orange Hill.” Flynn said he thinks he may come back to South Africa for another try at the title next year.
Back on Voortrekker Square, the sun was at its peak, and enthusiasm was beginning to wane. Girls from the local school danced to choreographed numbers from Sarafina, and the school band played songs from Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals.
By late afternoon, the festivities were over. All the awards had been handed out, and stallholders packed up their stalls and headed for home. The organiser of the sheep fest, Johan van den Heever, said he thinks this year’s festival went well.
”People come from all over the country to participate. We all have fun, and Colesburg gets a bit of publicity,” Van den Heever said. ”This festival puts Colesburg on the map.”