Kyogle sale a red hot success

By JANE GARDNER

CURIOUS out-of-towners paid sleepy Kyogle a visit yesterday, keen to inject some cash into the town's economy.

The annual Red Hot Kyogle Stocktake Sale day was touted by shopkeepers along Kyogle's main street as the most successful yet ? a welcome relief following an economic slump caused by the 2005 Norply factory fire.

Megan Hogan, part owner of Scarborough Shoes, said there were more bargain hunters this year than in 2006.

"It's been a total success," she said. "We've been busy all morning and a lot of the customers have been people I don't recognise, so they must have travelled to be here.

"That's the market we were hoping to get and I think because it's a Sunday, people who go for long weekend drives from Brisbane and the Gold Coast have come to visit."

One happy customer milling about the cosmetic stand at Kyogle Pharmacy, Ronda Close, drove from Woodenbong after her cousin told her about the sale that morning.

"We haven't even got past the chemist yet, this is great," she said.

Meanwhile, no one suspected the skinny red-headed boy would win a hundred bucks at the town's fourth annual pie eating competition.

Out of 12 hungry young lads and lasses to contest the title, Kyogle's Adam Scott-Bektas wolfed down five square meat pies the fastest.

"I don't think I'll eat a pie for another month," he said. "I thought I was going to throw up there for a minute."