What are you doing this Easter long weekend? For many Sunshine Coast locals, Easter is a time for family, chocolate, and the infamous, long-running Ma & Pa Bendall Memorial Surfing Contest. Held this coming week, Friday 14th to Sunday 16th April; Moffat Beach, Caloundra will play host to the 43rd Annual surfing contest. This event is one of the longest running surfing contests in Australia with a total of $15,000 prize money. The Open Divisions’ winner will take home $2,000 thanks to event organisers, sponsors and local Surf Club, Windansea.
As the old story goes… “in 1974 the inaugural ‘Pa’ Bendall Memorial Contest was organised as a mark of respect for Charles Ben (Pa) Bendall. ‘Pa’ is the grandad of surfing in Queensland. He and his wife Marjory (Ma) settled in Caloundra in the 1950’s. There were only a handful of other surfers living locally at the time, and Ma & Pa became the mother and father of surfing on the Sunshine Coast” (Windansea, 2017).
At Daydream Leisure Furniture, we have been involved with the Ma & Pa Bendall Memorial Surfing Contest for the last five years. We love to get involved with Ma & Pa as it is a fabulous local event, organised by selfless locals who put a lot of time and effort into making sure this event is phenomenal, year-on-year. We have such a great local community here on the Sunshine Coast and this event is a prime example of our community’s spirit. Not to mention it is a great surf carnival in honour of Ma & Pa Bendall!
We do our bit by providing furniture for the sponsor’s marquee, and this year we will have our own marquee filled with the popular timber life buoy decor range. We originally started with only a select few life buoy’s that featured the names of local beaches. Now our list of beaches has grown to 26, including:
- Mooloolaba
- Dicky Beach
- Shelly Beach
- Alexandra Headland
- Peregian Beach
- Sunrise Beach
- Mudjimba
- Twin Waters
- Marcus Beach
- Kings Beach
- Warana
- Golden Beach
- Kawana Island
- Cotton Tree
- Coolum
- Currimundi
- Maroochydore
- Pelican Waters
- Marcoola
- Wurtulla
- Moffat Beach
- Noosa
- Noosa River
- Noosa Waters
This year, with the approval of the Ma & Pa Bendall committee, we will have special edition Ma & Pa Bendall life buoys. For every special edition life buoy sold, $10 will be donated back to the contest. Keep an eye out for more beaches being added to the collection soon.
The contest is a memorial to Pa’s enthusiasm for surfing and his efforts in promoting surfing and encouraging the young surfers of Caloundra and surfers worldwide.
Fall in love with being outside again – fall in love with the legacy of Ma & Pa Bendall with Daydream Leisure Furniture. To find out more about the event, Daydream Leisure Furniture’s involvement, and the special edition Ma & Pa Bendall collection, stop by and visit the team at Moffat Beach this Easter long weekend.
2017 Pa & Ma Bendall Memorial Surfing Contest
Fri 14th April 2017 – Sun 16th April 2017
Moffat Beach, Caloundra QLD