They are the Potato Festival’s best dressed. Think Fashions on the Field – but itchier

It felt hot enough to boil spuds without power, but those in the small town of Thorpdale are a hardy bunch.

Their Potato Festival is as popular as a roast dinner, so the rolling hills of West Gippsland were alive with the a-peeling aromas of hessian and hot chips on Sunday.

It’s harvest time here, 132 kilometres east of Melbourne, but locals took time out at Thorpdale Recreation Reserve to work hard on their leisure activities.

At times, it resembled an old-style fair. The attractions included tug-of-war contests, low-tech rides and kids swooping on packets of potato chips airdropped in from a light plane.

Mark McQualter, 58, blitzed the potato-picking competition. He was the fastest to flick 150 kilograms of spuds into a bucket, pour them into sacks, then sew the sacks shut.

It’s been 24 years since McQualter lived in Thorpdale, where he picked professionally. He now lives in Newcastle, NSW, and works in construction – but the old skills came back.

Spud quest: Mark McQualter (right) won the professional potato picking competition.Credit: Wayne Taylor

The crowd oohed and aahed at another staple of Thorpdale Potato Festival – Hessians on the Field, an itchier version of horse racing’s Fashions on the Field.

Pieces have to be made mainly from hessian and often cleverly use real potato sacks.

This year’s entrants included a rocker with a bikini-style top, loose pants and dreadlocks made from potato sack seams; a young girl in a chic Chanel-style fitted suit; and a woman dressed as a potato chip packet that she could remove to reveal a flowing outfit with angel wings and a cowboy hat.

Fashion quest: Ruth Bates (centre) won the Hessians on the Field fashion competition, with Belinda Bursa (right) second and Catherine Noy (left) third.Credit: Wayne Taylor

The winner was Ruth Bates, 15, of Childers, whose mother, Katy Bates, worked for six weeks to create a “Balkan Queen” look – a flowing 1800s-style robe dress with soutache embroidery and a cloche hat.

Katy said while the Potato Festival was a fun day out, she was very serious about Hessians on the Field. She also made a Cadian Shock Trooper outfit – inspired by the Warhammer game – for her 17-year-old son, Nathan.

Don’t try this at home: The speed mashed potato-eating competition involves a blindfolded partner feeding the other.Credit: Wayne Taylor

Claire and Geoff Heffernan, of Narre Warren, won the speed mashed potato-eating competition. The event involves a blindfolded contestant feeding a bowl of mashed potatoes to their teammate – who has to keep it down.

Geoff was well-prepared – he has watched speed-eating competitions online with the couple’s kids, Patrick, 9, and Kassandra, 7.

“It helps having two young kids,” Claire said. “Being a mum you’re like, ‘Just eat it!’”

Geoff and Claire Heffernan won the open speed mashed potato competition.Credit: Wayne Taylor

Geoff said it didn’t even matter that the $50 prize didn’t cover the $60 family festival entry and $10 competition entry fee. “[The kids] love it,” he said.

The festival started in 1976 but was scrapped in 2002 over public liability insurance issues.

It was revived in 2015 and is now held every two years, raising about $70,000 for community groups.

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