From Chicago to Middlemarch: 'I'm loving life here'

Michelle Tisdall helps choose a lamb to show at the upcoming Strath Taieri A&P Show in Middlemarch, on March 21. Photo / Peter McIntosh

Talk about chalk and cheese.

Michelle Tisdall was a high-flying financial executive, born and raised in the bustling metropolis of Chicago, without a farm or a tractor in sight.

Now, the 42-year-old is revelling in a more social and sedate country life in Middlemarch, doing the accounts for the local garage and helping to organise the upcoming Strath Taieri A&P Show.

"The lifestyles couldn't get any further apart," she said.

She arrived here about two years ago with her husband and former Middlemarch resident John Tisdall.

"I dragged him back here. We were building a house in Chicago and it wasn't going to be finished before we had to move out of our old house.

"We had nowhere to live, so I said: 'Let's just go and live with your mom for six months over the winter while the house is getting done'.

"We were here for about two months and I decided I wanted to stay. I wanted to raise the kids here because Middlemarch is such a great place.

"It's so safe. For ages, we didn't even have keys to lock the doors in our house.

"I'm loving life here."

So much so, it took very little to persuade her to join the local A&P show organising committee.

She was looking forward to the event on March 21 and hoped it would help her new community get back on its feet after a difficult 12 months.

"Middlemarch is dusting itself off after a cancelled 2020 show and a bout with flooding to start off 2021.

"The community is really looking forward to its one big day of the year.

"We have planned the biggest show ever."

It will be a family day out with great spectator entertainment, including high-energy musterer racing, lawn mower racing, a spouse-carrying competition and pet dress-ups, as well as arts, crafts and homemade goods.

"I've tried to inject a bit of American carnival into it.

"I'm really trying to make it about the entire community. It's not just for people that have a sheep or people who like tractors.

"It's an all-round sort of event."