It’s a busy time of year in Orange! Schools are back, the summer sports season has started, and the Orange Wine Festival is about to get underway. The weather forecast suggests a cracking first weekend for the festival, which officially gets underway tomorrow (Friday, October 16) with the Night Markets in Robertson Park and you will find a vendor map on page 11. I was very, very sorry I had somewhere else to be last year as it was a superb spring evening. I may just have to stop by tomorrow!

This year, a fun new way to enjoy the festival uses a ‘digital passport’ on your phone to unlock exclusive offers and amazing prizes from local cellar doors. You can find out more inside this week’s edition.

For the car enthusiasts, Big Boys Toys is back at West Orange Motors on Saturday; it’s a great opportunity to check out some spectacular classic cars, trucks and bikes, all while supporting the great work of Can Assist.

Then coming up, we have the Australian National Fields Days, October 22-24 and the Orange Open Gardens on October 25. You can find out all about these events and maybe even score some Field Day tickets by reading this week’s Orange City Life.

Apologies to those of you who love to read the ‘Thumbs’ section, but due to a number of late ads, we just couldn’t find room to squeeze them in this week. Don’t worry, we will make sure they are back in our next edition.

Until next week!