Baled up by Garfield: Tongala Development Committee vice president Amber Townsend with artist Mitchell Oats in Mangan St last week.
Mitchell Oats didn’t have to look too far for his Tongala Hay Bale Trail Christmas in the Country inspiration, a little research uncovering the rural origins of one of his favourite cartoon characters, Garfield.
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Garfield is from one of the USA’s largest farming states, Indiana, though his home town is not a big part of the story line.
The Tongala baker was busy at work on his creation on Monday, less than 100 metres from his Mangan St bakery, on the eve of the trail launch.
Amber Townsend, part of the organising committee and vice-president of the Tongala Development Group, said Mitch was one of 16 artists involved in this year’s 21-site trail.
Outline of Odie: Tongala hay bale artist, and baker, Mitchell Oats at his Garfield and Odie Christmas creation earlier this week.
Mitch has teamed up with Kirstin Walker to complete the two-metre-plus monument to Garfield and his faithful sidekick, Odie.
The cat and dog feature on either side of the hay bales, along with a Santa sack.
Mitch is colour blind, so he is responsible for the outline of the characters, which are brought to life in colour by Kirstin.
“She told me that she couldn’t draw, but she could paint. And I told her I couldn’t paint, but I could draw. It works well,” Mitchell said.
The Garfield and Odie creation is a feature of the trail, which follows the same route as last year.
Tongala’s aged care residents will again be able to enjoy their hay bale from indoors, a double-sided image of Charlie the Christmas dog located at their facility for their viewing pleasure along with that of the public.
Both Tongala Primary and St Patrick’s have joined in the fun, the primary school having three bales on its sprawling property: Santa at a sausage sizzle, some Christmas gnomes and a bale with a First Nations theme on the back oval.
“It’s a way of acknowledging the fact we are using Indigenous land for the trail,” Amber said.
The Tongala Hay Bale Trail is on both Instagram and Facebook
“We will have a heap of maps printed off in a treasure map style, with questions on the flip side,” Amber said.
“We will be sending them to all the schools and kinders. We hope it encourages people to bring their kids over.
“The bakery will be opening especially on Sunday for the expected crowds. Last year a lot of people rode the five or so kilometres of the trail, so they should build up an appetite.”
