Casino Beef Week commenced in 1982 following a public meeting held to discuss options for an annual festival.

First Casino Beef Week Queen pictured on the 24th anniversary of Casino Beef Week.

The mayor of Casino Gerry Kelly invited former Casino resident and business consultant Michael Zann to assist the town come up with an idea to promote the town and region. When Mr Zann was told that the local economy was largely dependent on the beef industry he suggested that beef be the focus of a festival.

The rest, as they say is history.

The first festival was small but introduced the concept that has made Casino Beef Week unique – cattle in the main street.

The second year saw the introduction of the Miss Beef Week Queen competition (now re-named Miss Casino Beef Week) where young women are sponsored by the various beef breeder associations and represent the town and the festival throughout the year.

As Casino Beef Week approaches its 25th anniversary it is one of the most widely known and popular regional festivals with an average of 20,000 people crowding into town on the main Saturday.

On this day the country comes to town, with a led steer and stud heifer competition followed by a live auction taking place around the town’s central point – the Mafeking Lamp memorial.

The main streets are closed and filled with food stalls, entertainment stages, whip cracking, woodchopping, junior stockman and lady competitions, street entertainers, art and craft exhibitions and more.

The grand parade of colourful floats takes pride of place in the afternoon and the crowd disperses to the rodeo at the nearby showground or spills out of the pubs and clubs to enjoy live music and comradeship.

This brief overview can’t do justice to this unique home grown festival. You need to be here to experience Casino Beef Week to the full.

The proposed dates for Casino Beef Week 2009 are 26th May to 2nd June, 2009.