Latrobe residents Melissa Bauld and Claire McCarthy launched the event after seeing how hard their beloved community was hit during the floods a month ago.

“We’ve seen so many people that we knew who were affected by the floods locally and everywhere, and we just wanted to help out,” Ms McCarthy said.

“So many people felt the same and just jumped on board with me and Melissa and it’s grown... it started off as a barbecue and a raffle.”

She said they had no particular fundraising target, but that every dollar would go towards the Latrobe Lions Club to distribute to surrounding communities.

Ms Bauld said the major raffle included eight prize packages and the other donated items were up for grabs in an evening auction, including a Darrel Baldock print.

“So many people in the community wanted to donate things, so I guess we needed less than $5000 worth of prizes for our raffle and I think we’ve got something like $12,000 worth of prizes in their now all up, so it’s just unreal,” she said.

The day event ran from 12 noon until 4pm, with fun and games for all members of the family, including the chance to take photographers with some famous movie characters. “We’ve got crazy hair, face painting, a jumping castle, husky house, fairy floss.. heaps of family friendly things,” Ms McCarthy said.

Premier Will Hodgman met with locals at the market event and remarked on the strenght of the community spirit. “This is a demonstration of classic Tasmanian resilience, a community coming together, a small idea that’s bigger than Ben Hur, and it is wonderful for the people of Latrobe and other flood affected regions to come together,” he said.

Latrobe Mayor Peter Freshney said it was great to see two young members of the community organising the fundraiser. 

“It’s also nice for the community to come together and to grasp a bit of normality for a change, particularly those people who have been adversely affected by the flooding,” Cr Freshney said.