Mingenew Midwest Expo: Love of community drives event co-ordinators

One hails from Moora and the other Aberdeen, but if there’s one thing Mingenew locals Rikki Smith and Sarah Christie have in common, it’s a love of community.

And it’s that love of community that compelled the pair to take on the massive role of co-ordinating this year’s Mingenew Midwest Expo.

“One thing I’m passionate about is the community and I love seeing the community enjoying an event within their own town,” Ms Smith explained.

“I also love organising events, I get a rush out of that stuff.

“I just love liaising with all our exhibitors, our suppliers, our community and the Expo board. There’s a lot of people involved in running Expo and you get to meet a lot of different people.”

For Ms Christie, it was the appeal of “the sense of community that Expo brings”.

“I really love how the community has that shared goal to put on an event that showcases our town in the best light possible,” she said.

“We all think Mingenew is a wonderful town to live and work in, and it showcases the wider region as well.”

Though she has sat on the Expo board for the past three years, it will be the first time co-ordinating the show for Ms Christie, who moved to town 14 years ago after meeting local boy Rocky Brennan.

The couple met while Ms Christie was a backpacker working at the Mingenew Hotel and now have three young children.

It will be round two for Ms Smith, who co-ordinated the 2021 Expo with local legend Norah Flanders.

“My partner Brenton and I moved to Mingenew when our first daughter, Holly, was about two-and-a-half and she’s 10 now, so we’ve been in the community probably for eight years on and off,” Ms Smith said.

“Since then, we’ve had another daughter, Gemma, who’s now four-years-old.

“Signing up as co-ordinator was an opportunity to be involved in the community firstly, but then also organising an event, which is right up my alley.

“I’m also the secretary for the Turf Club in Mingenew …. and I do love talking to people, so it all works out pretty good.”

Last year’s Expo was held over a single day but this year’s event will return to the familiar two-day format.

Ms Christie — who is also co-ordinator at the Mingenew Community Resource Centre — said the decision was made after receiving all but unanimous feedback from the community and exhibitors.

“The buzz from exhibitors, and definitely people in the community, is that they’re excited to have it back to two days,” she said.

“We tested the water with the one-day format, and I think the fixed costs for exhibitors and ourselves just made it not as worthwhile.”

Ms Smith said everybody knew Expo as a two-day event.

“We’re just going back to its grassroots and to what we know and do well,” she said.

There will be plenty more to celebrate at this year’s milestone 40th annual event, with new exhibitors signed up and a range of special attractions planned.

“The whole day is amazing: the general public really enjoy the event that we put on, with the kids’ zone, the fashion parades and all that kind of stuff,” Ms Smith said.

“But I think it’s the social aspect of it that most people enjoy, especially myself.

“This year we’re celebrating 40 years, so we’ve got a live band, fireworks and night-time entertainment for the kids.

“That’s going to be the exciting part for me — seeing my family come out and enjoy it, as well as other families in the community and the Mid West.”

After living in Moora for most of her life, the mother-of-two said her family had no plans to leave Mingenew anytime soon.

Meanwhile, Ms Christie reckons she has “about another 14 years to go” before she can officially call herself a local.

This year’s McIntosh and Son Mingenew Midwest Expo will be held on August 9 and 10.

Read the official McIntosh & Son Mingenew Midwest Expo 2023 program (30MB).