CURED meat connoisseurs gathered at Euston for the annual Great Murray River Salami Festival on Saturday.
Salami-making demonstrations and vendors aside, the festival had something for everyone with various market stalls, food and drink vendors, live music, and children’s entertainment.
Organisers said thousands turned out to make this year’s festival a success.
Event organiser Guy Fielding said what started out as a humble local festival in 2018 has gained immense popularity with salami lovers all over the country.
“When I first arrived here 16 years ago, not a lot of people were probably aware of Euston as a town,” he said.
“But now with the festival growing each year, lots of people are coming to Euston for the first time and seeing what a great town this is with the Murray River flowing past our back doorstep.
“I’ve heard people say they’re going to come back for another visit.”
There were 81 entries for this year’s best salami competition, with entrants from Euston and Robinvale to coastal New South Wales, Central Victoria and South Australia.
Locals took home the winning prize this year as judges declared Robinvale residents, husband and wife Luigi and Mary-Anne Fotia, as the first-place entry with their spicy salami smoked over olive branches for three days and dried for four to five weeks.
Another husband-and-wife duo, Peter and Josie Holt from Lake Powell, landed second place, and third place went to Antonio Savelli from McDonald Park, South Australia.
“We also had a lot of entries from Swan Hill and some ranked in the top 10,” Mr Fielding said.
“There was really good feedback from the judges. They were impressed by the quality of the salamis entered this year.”
Mr Fielding attributed the festival’s success to having free entry and entertainment.
“The kids that attended the day were blown away by all of the activities we had and the parents were really grateful that the activities were all free of cost,” he said.
“With families struggling with cost-of-living pressures these days, it really helps knowing that they don’t have to really delve too much into their finances to have a really great day out on the weekend.”
