The history of Beaut Blokes

In 2003 Ange Newton came up with the idea for her small South west Victorian township of Harrow to host a Beaut Blokes Weekend, Harrow invited 80 city women to meet their Beaut Blokes, Basically the weekend involves great fun, entertainment, genuine meeting opportunities, a chance for city ladies to experience the country lifestyle for the weekend and the chance for the Beaut Blokes of Harrow to develop their social skills, establish new friendships and to showcase their town.

The success of the first event attracted national and international media attention and since then Harrow have hosted a total of seven similar weekends. In addition other spin off events have also followed the extremely popular weekends, these include A Blokes Oaks Race Day, Beaut Blokes with a few kilometres on the clock, and a New Year’s Eve event.

The success of the program caught the eye of the residents of the small Western Australian town of Hyden who were also concerned about the number of young women leaving town to study in the city – and never returning. Hyden and the Victorian country town of Ouyen have both since run similar events.

To date, Beaut Blokes has produced at least 12 weddings that we know of, numerous engagements, at least two Beaut Bloke babies, with a coulple more on the way, many relocations and countless new relationships. In May 2004 “Beaut Blokes” won the Community Event/Festival of the Year section of the Wimmera Business Awards. Ange Newton, founder of the Beaut Blokes weekend was a winner of one the five 2004 Alcoa Regional Achievers Awards for her successes with the event.

Aside from the above successes the events have proved to be a winning formula for the local communities who stage them, Ange Newton says “We know Beaut Blokes has benefited the small businesses, the local pubs, accommodation houses. Even better than that, it’s given the communities the chance to really let their hair down and party”.

Ange says of the weekend “Even if the girls don’t meet the man of their dreams, they are guaranteed of making some great new friends and having a fantastic time”.