Dozens of creative Tasmanians have transformed everyday items into towering festival totems at Party In The Paddock’s third annual doof stick pageant.
The competition, held in the festival’s bullpen, celebrates the DIY spirit of festival-goers who craft elaborate poles to show off in the mosh pit and help mates locate each other in the crowd.
Organiser Ruby Morris said she created the event to honour punters’ creativity.
“I’ve been a festival attendee for quite a long time, since I was a kid, and one thing I’ve always loved seeing is the arts and crafts that comes into a festival,” she said.
“I just wanted to create an event that really celebrated the punters and the passion and creating a beacon of hope to find your friends.”
Morris believes the event may have been Australia’s first doof stick pageant.
“When I first came up with the concept, I had a look online, and I couldn’t find any other events that really put on doof stick pageants or competitions,” she said.
“But now I had a look earlier this week, and more pageants have come, which is really cool.”
A group dressed as bumblebees took out first place, while honourable mentions went to several standout entries.
Claudia Howard paid tribute to defunct Tasmanian discount chain Chickenfeed with her creation.
“I wanted something that I wanted patterned to Tasmania and something recognisable by all Tasmanians,” she said.
Howard said the reaction exceeded her expectations.
“I even got a shout out from Keli Holiday [from Peking Duk] who noticed my doof stick from the stage,” she said.
Medical worker Jordan Theodoropoulos and a colleague created a last-minute entry using expired medical supplies from the festival’s ProMED Tasmania health tent.
“We actually just made this just before,” he said. “We just went to the tent and said, can we get some gear to make an improvised doof stick?”
Eleven-year-old Yolla crafted a Maugean skate, one of Tasmania’s endangered species.
“It was one of the things I had, and I had an idea first to make the wings flap,” she said.
Morris hinted at future plans for the pageant, including a possible exhibition featuring portraits of festival-goers with their creations.
