Sydney Chilli Festival heats up Parramatta to help our farmers
THE Sydney Chilli Festival rolls into Parramatta this weekend offering all things hot and spicy - all for a good cause with funds from the day will be donated to Rural Aid’s Buy A Bale,
Parramatta
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A CHILLI festival will bring the heat to Parramatta this weekend, all to help NSW farmers.
The Sydney Chilli Festival will offer all things hot and spicy from hot sauces to chutneys, jerky and spice mixes, and funds from the day will be donated to Rural Aid’s Buy A Bale, which supports drought affected communities.
The festival started a few years ago as a way for farmers in southeast Queensland to give back to the communities that had supported them.
In 2011, a devastating flood swept through Murphys Creek and Tasmanian Rotarians raised almost $1 million, allowing the town to build a community centre.
A few years later, the Murphys Creek community returned the favour — holding a chilli festival to help Tasmania recover from the 2016 floods.
Seatonfire Chilli Chocolate, a mother-and-son company from southeast Queensland, are a major sponsor of the festival.
They have owned a chilli farm in Murphys Creek for 20 years, and started their chilli chocolate company a decade ago.
Seatonfire’s Jason O’Connor, who is co-ordinating the Sydney Chilli Festival, said the festival has continued to grow in popularity since its inception.
“It’s just grown and grown every year,” O’Connor said.
A second chilli festival was held last year to support the community of Chinderah, near Kingscliff, following flooding there.
Now chilli producers from Queensland and New South Wales have driven to Sydney to support drought-affected farmers through the chilli festival at the Albion Hotel on Sunday from 11am to 4pm.
Entry is a gold coin donation to Buy A Bale and the hottest event of the day will be The Seatonfire Chilli Chocolate Challenge.
Brave challengers will eat a variety of chillies — including a chocolate-coated Thai chilli topped with powdered Carolina Reaper and a habanera injected with chocolate — and a death waiver will be required for participants.
The family-friendly event will also include a much cooler fruit-eating competition for children, as well as artisan chilli stalls for visitors to try and buy a range of products.