Rocky Gully Revival Show and Shine a possible ‘turning point’ for small community

The first big event as part of Rocky Gully’s revival will take over the town’s oval at the start of March with the organiser labelling it a possible “turning point” for the community. Up to 100 cars and motorbikes will roll into town for the one-day Rocky Gully Revival Show and Shine on March 4. Rocky Gully progress association chairman Rod Hovell said people would be coming from all over the Great Southern as well as places such as Kalgoorlie, Busselton, Manjimup, and Bridgetown. He said he was fielding eight to 10 phone calls a day from people “all over wanting to be part of it”. “I get just as many calls again from strangers just saying congratulations on what you’re doing,” he said. The event has grown “bigger and bigger” since organisers started planning it shortly after hosting a small cruise to Rocky Gully event in October. A number of stalls will be set up on the oval, including a cake and sandwich stall hosted by the Country Women’s Association, a sausage sizzle, and coffee and ice cream vans will also be on hand. Mr Hovell said the amount of paperwork needed to run the event had been eye-opening. He said over the past year much work had been done by the RGPA to change the attitudes of the town’s residents and its reputation beyond the town. “Already there has been an attitude change over the past 12 months,” he said. “The people who I talked to originally said, ‘bloody Rocky Gully, why would you want to live there?’, but not now. “That is changing because people see the potential there and they remember the early days of what a wonderful place it was. “It think this could be the turning point, that’s why we’ve called it the Rocky Gully Revival Show and Shine.” The Show and Shine will run from 9.30am to 4pm with judging of the people’s choice awards to take place by 12.30pm.