The Country Energy Casino Beef Week 2009 was a huge success. One of the biggest crowds ever lined the streets of Casino on the main Saturday topping off a fantastic week of festival fun.

From the first day when local shops dressed their windows and staff in keeping with this year's Carnivale theme, through to the classy fashion parade, the stunning Masquerade Ball, the Beef Industry Breakfast and the main Saturday, and more, people flocked to Casino from all over the state.

The parade was more colourful than ever with many floats and walking exhibits. A new event - Casino On Parade - saw the Samba Blisstas drummers lead the parade. They were joined by local people trained in free workshops thanks to a grant from the Regional Arts Fund. The grant also brought Spaghetti Circus to town where young people received training in circus skills, along with fabric artist Anne Leon who taught fabric art to the Jambama aboriginal artists who designed flags hung in the street.

Beef Week President Stuart George was thrilled with the success of the festival.

"All events have been well attended," Stuart said. "We had a lot of inquiries through the office from people outside of Casino.  The motels filled up pretty quickly, which indicates that Beef Week once again attracted a wide range of visitors to Casino."

Stuart was particularly pleased with the quality and numbers in the led steer and stud competitions.

"The numbers were up this year with 91 steers and 50 stud entries," Stuart said. "And the spectacle for people sitting around watching the led the judging and auction was great."

Stay tuned for news of next year's Casino Beef Week.