Dooen Hotel publican Alison Faux was feeding her five-month-old son Charlie when she received a text message from a friend suggesting the pub host a fire-relief fundraiser. 

Within about half an hour of messaging her contacts, Ms Faux had secured three bands – and the Australia Day Spirit of the Wimmera event was born.

The Dooen Hotel will host an action-packed day featuring live music, a community garage sale, auction and raffle from 11am to 11pm on Sunday. 

All money raised will be donated to charities that support victims of the devastating Victorian bushfires, to be chosen by patrons on the day. 

Ms Faux said Aaron O’Neill sparked the idea, offering to provide free security services if she hosted a fundraising event.

“Aaron had been pressing me to offer events at the pub for quite some time and I thought this was a great opportunity to be able to do something for people who had lost everything,” she said.

“Aaron and his family lost their entire house and contents in the Deep Lead fires on the New Year’s Eve of 2005-06.

“He said to me he knew firsthand what these people were going through and he would move mountains to help them.”

Ms Faux said the event was organised quickly.  

“We started a Facebook message group with a few people and everyone was coming up with suggestions and actioning them,” she said. 

“Within a week we had organised the whole thing. Pretty much everyone I spoke to was happy to donate or discount items for the day.”

Ms Faux said she hoped to raise between $10,000 and $15,000.

“I think it’s doable to get that much because of all the little things we have got going on,” she said.

“We know a lot of people want to donate in some way but might feel they can’t afford much and their contribution is insignificant. 

“By participating in something like this, even the smallest contribution adds up. In saying that, we’d still be happy if we got $6000. We just want to do our bit to help.”

Ms Faux said Spirit of the Wimmera was a family-friendly event, with a jumping castle, face-painting, sausage sizzle and ‘fun but frustrating’ challenges also on offer.

“Towards the evening the usual pub rules will apply, with no children after meal times, but we encourage families to make the most of a fun day out,” she said.

Nine acts from across the Wimmera will take to the stage throughout the day and into the evening.

Ms Faux said the event would also feature a special performance by a ‘mystery masked singer’.

“They have agreed to get up and sing a song and people can then guess who it is. It’s just something else for a bit of fun,” she said.

Organisers will fence off a large area out the front of the pub to accommodate the crowd.

Patrons will be able to park cars in a paddock next door to avoid highway traffic and there will also be a courtesy bus on the hour from Horsham’s Bull and Mouth Hotel.

People can search Dooen Hotel on Facebook for more information about the event. 

– Sarah Scully

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