QUEENSLAND'S iconic mango could have its own festival in its spiritual home of Bowen on the top of the Whitsundays.
After receiving thousands of entries from across the country, Bowen has been shortlisted to host a mango festival after travel site Wotif launched a contest dubbed the Festival of Wot?
It would be a fitting way to celebrate the upcoming mango season, with Australian Mango Industry Association chairman Ben Martin saying the region was gearing up for a bumper crop.
Mr Martin, of Marto's Mangoes, Delta, said all signs were pointing to a decent mango season in North Queensland.
"Everything is shaping up really good, we've had some very strong flowering throughout the district with a reasonable fruit set and the growing conditions have been really good," Mr Martin said.
He said while abnormal weather in the Mareeba/Dimbulah growing areas including frost and fire had impacted some growers, overall the season was shaping up well.
"Overall in the Bowen/Burdekin there's been excellent conditions.
"We sill start to see Queensland mangoes in the fourth week of October, with the bulk of the crop coming off in November and December."
Mr Martin threw his support behind a Bowen mango festival to not only celebrate the iconic fruit and it's growers, but to promote the regional town.
"It would be great exposure for the town and I'd love to see the festival really look at the people behind the varieties, to recognise the breeders of the R2E2 for instance which was bred in Bowen in the early 1980s, to look at what those varieties have done for the industry not just in Bowen, but Australia as a whole."
Whitsunday Regional Council Mayor Andrew Willcox encouraged everyone to get behind the region's bid to celebrate the iconic fruit in the home of the big mango.
"Bowen is famous for the mango, everywhere you go all over Australia, we're synonymous with it.
"It's an iconic piece of fruit and such a versatile piece of fruit, you can start the day having mango on top of corn flakes and finish with mango daiquiri. You can have mango salad, mango sorbet, mango ice-cream, there's dry mango."
Cr Willcox suggested the festival could include mango shotput, mango stomping, and mango eating contests to name a few.
He encouraged everyone to get behind the festival and cast their vote.
Bowen's mango festival is one of four finalists from across the country, with Wotif managing director Daniel Finch saying the finalists were selected for originality, tourism appeal and relevance to the local area.
Voting is open until September 29, with the winner announced on October 10, with the festival to be held in November.
To vote visit Wotif.com/festival.
