“It was overwhelming to a point,”
admits Dan. “This year was magic
and the sense of family that came
back to the Farm Jam, mixed in with
the world’s best photographers and
athletes doing what they do best in
our back yard, it was just an amazing
vibe.”
“It was almost too much to deal with
this year,” agrees Brett. “It was too
amazing, but our minds wanted to be
in two places at once. We were torn
between grieving the loss of a best
mate and working like s**t to make
the Farm Jam a damn good tribute to
Kelly. I honestly don’t think this year
could’ve gone any better, especially
considering the events leading up to
it.”
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
While the Farm Jam is what Frew Farm
is known for, they’ve also played huge
roles in big-budget action sports films
such as Anthill Films’ #Notbad in 2013.
After being contacted by the Anthill
crew and a quick location recce, the
Frews were given just a couple of
weeks to build a range of jumps and
features for the likes of Brett Rheeder,
Cam McCaul and Brandon Semenuk
to destroy, under the guise of a bike
holiday in New Zealand. Timing was
tight, but the brothers relish such
challenges and stepped up to the
plate.
involved. We’re tossing up the idea of
doing more ‘bike farming’ in the future
where we bring on more staff so we
can focus on growing that side of the
business. We’re kinda in charge of our
own destiny and only limited by our
imagination in terms of what we could
do here, and that’s quite an exciting
place to be.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
Despite the Farm Jam moving to a
biennial (every two years) event in
2016, riders and fans need not worry
that the event or the Frew Farm is
going anywhere. As much work as
it is to organise such a huge event
while balancing their everyday lives
as full-time farmers with growing
families (both Brett and Dan have two
ankle-biters), the kicks they get out of
watching everyone enjoying their slice
of heaven more than makes up for it.
“Organising the Farm Jam is a lot
of work, but we’ve built up a pretty
sustainable and reliable event and
we’re not going to stop it any time
soon,” Brett confirms. “We want our
farm to be a good place to ride and
rewarding for our friends. A lot of
people lose enthusiasm as they get
older, but for us, keeping the Farm Jam
going is the biggest thing we want to
do, as well as exploring other options
on the side.”
And what are those other options?
“It was an amazing experience for
us, and all the riders and crew were
blown away by the beauty of our farm;
everything was easy for them and
they weren’t limited by farm owners,
government departments or park
officials. Anything they wanted, we
could deliver.”
“We’re not going to give a straight
answer about that, sorry,” laughs Dan.
“We’re not ones to promise the world
to people and then not deliver on it.
We’re the opposite, where we’ll just
build something fresh and new and
people will turn up and go, ‘wow, I
didn’t know that was here!’”
The chance to work with Anthill Films
on the #Notbad project opened the
Frews’ eyes to the opportunities that
lay in using their farm as a location for
big-budget films, and it’s something
they’d love to pursue further in the
future.
“The future is wide open for us though,
which is pretty exciting really,” offers
Brett. “We’re always brain-storming
and one of these days we’re just going
to bust out some of these ideas that
have been rolling around in our heads
for years and years. We bit the bullet
with Farm Jam and made it happen,
so now it’s a matter of taking the same
leap of faith with these other ideas.”
“We’ll put our hands up for anything
like that,” enthuses Brett. “That’s
where our spark is and we’d love to
be a filming location in the future;
if people want to use this farm as a
beautiful location for big-budget films
and Hollywood productions, we’d be
all about that.”
Dan adds: “Working with the Anthill
guys certainly opened our eyes to
what’s possible. It’s a lot of effort,
but it’s so rewarding for everyon e
If the success of the Farm Jam is
anything to go by, these new ideas are
going to be something to watch out
for. T
“
We’re in
charge of our
own destiny
and only
limited by our
imagination
as to what
we could do
here, and
that’s quite an
exciting place
to be
”