A great time had at RiceStrippers Ball

Club secretary Cam Robertson said it all went well, with a decent attendance again this year.

“It was a great success. All the attendees were well-behaved and looked after the community.

“We had great weather, it was a bit cold, but there were plenty of wood fires and all in all, it was really good weather for the ball.”

“It went as smoothly as it could have.”

Mr Robertson said to cater for the huge crowd, Finley Apex had help from a number of different groups.

“There were a lot of volunteers,” he said.

“I want to make sure we thank the volunteers, from the high school, football and netball club, pistol club, there were lots of community clubs from across Finley all volunteering across the weekend.”

Singing the praises of the ball organisers, volunteers and guests was guitarist Shayne Savic, who performed as a member of the country band Scarlet’s Way.

Now a Finley BnS favourite, the band made the trip from Perth, Western Australia to be part of the weekend.

“It was great fun. It was our third year at the Finley ball,” he said.

Scarlet’s Way got their introduction to the Finley event through a fellow musician and Finley favourite.

“We were on tour in 2023 and one of our friends, Brook (Chivell), asked us to perform with her.

“We’d driven from Perth to Queensland for the tour, and then drove from Queensland to Finley to take part.

“We didn’t have all our band members with us, so we put a band together on short notice, but it was great fun.”

Mr Savic said the band are looking forward to potentially performing in Finley again next year.

“Scarlet's Way and Brook Chivell have performed at the last three, and we hope to see everyone again next year at Finley as well.”

All proceeds from the Finley BnS Ball, and the Finley Pro Rodeo hosted by Apex at Easter, go back to the community.

“We’re still counting from the rodeo on Easter weekend and the ball on the weekend,” Mr Robertson said.

“We’ll firstly give donations to all volunteer clubs that helped over those two events.

“Then, generally, people might need some help throughout the year, and we will work out what to give out.

“For both events, we got similar numbers to last year, so it was good to see great attendance across both events.”