Luke may look like your average hard-working farmer but behind the dusty cap and magnificent moustache lies a creative flair that has earned the Western District a ribbon at this year’s Exhibits Display competition. With the guidance of Chief Designer Margaret, Luke and the Western District team has created a display worthy of Instagram, with its avant-garde array of shapes, shades and aromas.
“Margaret’s tried to go for more of a foresty look, like a darker uneven look. We’re used to always doing patterns and lines and straight colours but this year, we tried a different approach.”
Featured in this year’s design are a wide variety of mushrooms creating an edible forest alongside apples, pumpkins, wool and grain. But the produce that Luke is most proud of are the four award-winning preserves that each took out first prize.
“So that’s my great-grandmother, my grandmother and my mother and auntie.”
Points won for individual produce are tallied together and the team with the highest total are presented with the coveted Perpetual Shield, first awarded in 1911. Although Luke’s team lost out to this year’s overall winners, the Northern District, Luke is already looking ahead to 2025 with concept planning well underway.
