Nothing small about this year's Bull

This year’s Dardanup Bull and Barrel Festival might have been themed ‘‘it’s a small world,’’ but there was nothing small about the crowd.

Picture by Richard Hathaway: Dreamstate Circus’ Sophie McGrath wows the crowd

Nearly 10,000 people converged on Dardanup on Saturday for the town’s ninth festival, boasting a jam-packed program of competitions and parades.

Sponsored by the Bunbury Herald, South Western Times and Doral Mineral Sands Pty Ltd, the festival passed upall things great for all things small to feature model aeroplanes, trains, cars, bonsais, dwarf fruit trees and even dolls furniture.

Highlights of this year’s event included crowd-pleasing fire twirling displays before the day’s fun was capped off with the burning of the bull sculpture in a spectacular finale.

Festival chairwoman Jill Cross said the greatest satisfaction for organisers came from seeing the smiles on children’s faces.

‘‘The children’s activities marquee was just full of kids all day and that’s one of the best parts about the festival—there are a lot oflow-cost or free activities for families,’’Mrs Cross said.

Mrs Cross said the event continued to raise the region’s profile and attracted increasing numbers of visitors form Perth each year.