On Wednesday 29th June the Victoria Racing Club announced Corowa as one of 30 lucky host destinations of the 2011 Emirates Melbourne Cup Tour.

The Melbourne Cup trophy will arrive in Corowa on Saturday 13th August and will be accompanied by VRC representatives and tour ambassador, John Letts.

An organising committee has been established to plan the exiting line up of activities that will take place when the Melbourne Cup Tour comes to Corowa. This committee consists of Councillor Gary Poidevin (Corowa Race Club President), Dianne Upton (Corowa Race Club Secretary), Peter Hansen (Corowa Shire Tourism President), Shaun Whitechurch (Federation Festival Committee), Kendall Chubb (Corowa Shire Council), Wendy Thompson (Corowa Shire Council) and Rachel Robinson-Minogue (Corowa Shire Tourism).

The committee is busy planning a day long program of activities which they hope will be enjoyed by the local community and visitors to the area.

Everyone is encouraged to join in the celebration of Corowa's long and glorious connection with the Melbourne Cup. Come along and have your photo taken with the Melbourne Cup trophy and ambassador John Letts!

The activities will commence at 10am on Saturday 13th August, with a community celebration to take place in Sanger St Corowa. This will include an official welcome and unveiling of the Melbourne Cup trophy, jumping castle, face painting, hobby horse races for the kids, yabby races, hat and hobby horse parade by primary school children and an attempt for a new entry into the Guinness Book of Records for the Longest Line Dance on the Murray.

The community and general public are invited to bring their family and friends along to this fun filled morning of activities in Sanger Street Corowa. Everyone is also encouraged to participate in the line dancing record attempt – you don't need any prior experience in dancing to be involved!

The tour will then move from Sanger St and visit the Corowa Golf Club from 12.45pm and Karinya House from 2-3pm.

Following this, the trophy and its ambassadors will be found at John Foord oval from 3 – 4:30pm for the Corowa Rutherglen vs. North Albury match. The cup will do a lap of the oval at half time and the opportunity will exist for the crowd to meet and have their photo taken with John Letts and the trophy.

Sue Davis Photography will be accompanying the tour and photos will be available for purchase.

A gala celebration dinner will conclude the day's activities and will be held at the Corowa RSL Club commencing at 6.30pm. Tickets will be available at a cost of $45 per person and will include a 3 course meal as well as live music and entertainment.

Members of the public are invited to attend the dinner and tickets can be purchased from the Corowa Visitor Information Centre.

Tickets will be limited and the organising committee encourages people to get in early for what is sure to be a once in a lifetime memorable night.

For further information on the 2011 Emirates Melbourne Cup Tour to Corowa, please contact the Corowa Visitor Information Centre on (02) 6033 3221.