‘Zen bull’ sculpture to headline Dardanup Bull and Barrel Festival

A 10m-tall timber sculpture of a “Zen bull” is set to capture the eye of thousands of locals and visitors to the Ferguson Valley as Dardanup gears up for its annual Bull and Barrel Festival.

The Act, Belong, Commit Dardanup Bull and Barrel Festival is set to take over the town on Saturday, October 8 with plenty for locals and tourists to see and do during the free community event.

With a stacked line-up of stalls, activities and live performances, festival chair Jill Cross said the festival would be taking on the theme of health and wellness, which would also include a ‘zen zone’ and a parade of puppets.

For the past 15 years the event has had a fiery ending — the lighting of the Wespine Fire Sculpture — and that’s set to continue again, with John Cartwright and Jeff Woodman designing and building the 10m sculpture of a bull meditating on a wine barrel to end the day with a bang.

“They’ve been building the bull for the past three weeks and all of the pine has been donated by Wespine,” she said.

“We have got a stacked event and we may need a bigger sand pad for our bull this year because the sculpture is over 10m and he is huge.

“He’s certainly going to throw out a lot of heat.”

There will also be non-stop music and dance performances on Tronox main stage, goat races, a kids zone, wine and gin tastings, and market stalls.