South West medieval carnivale prep underway

Balingup’s Medieval Carnivale is still months away, but a team has worked almost every Sunday afternoon all year round to prepare for the event.

The group is busy repairing jester heads for the parade as well as rebuilding the dragon which is burnt every year, among other tasks.

Carolyn Austin, as well as working each weekend to get ready for the carnivale, is also the event’s public relations manager.

Ms Austin said they had been working almost every weekend for a few hours at a time so nothing was left until the last minute.

“We have mainly been making new jester heads — some of the older jester heads are tired looking and a bit ugly, so we have tried to make them better,” she said.

“It looks like we will have about eight finished for the carnivale and we have also been working on a few other props as well.”

Ms Austin said the group was not only working to improve the props, but also the event site.

“We are trying to make the dragon burning area sloped so more people can see what is going on,” she said.

“We have also invested in some toilet blocks.”

There is also talk of some new entertainment.

“We have had horseback archery over the past few years which has proved to be very popular and we are hoping to get some horseback jousting this time,” she said. “We are also trying to get a trebuchet, a weapon they used to use to throw stones, cannon balls or even boiling oil at an enemy, although we will be using pumpkins.”

The carnivale will be held from August 24 to 25 this year.