Meet the Frews: The Brothers Behind Farm Jam

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FARM JAM: Meet the Frews

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Head due south from Queenstown and the craggy and tussock coated mountains of the Southern Alps, past the tip of Lake Wakatipu and the landscape becomes as rounded and mellow as a Pavlova. The land changes to pastoral, rolling fields. Sheep bleat, cows chew the cud and quad bikes loaded with eager collies zip around. Shorts get shorter and boots become taller as you escape the mega-hydro-zorbing-bungee antics of the tourist spectacle of Queenstown and enter into a far more agricultural part of New Zealand. Things become a little more earthy. This isn’t an area that many visitors would see, they wouldn’t need to come here, but each year The Farm Jam draws mountain bike, BMX and FMX riders from afar to sample the hidden cultivation of good times that the Frew Family have been harvesting for years now.


The Farm Jam takes place in a secluded corner of Southland, where for five generations the Frew's have raised sheep and cattle. Sitting in a shallow valley of lush green grass is the Frew’s farm. On their 2,600 acres lives 18,000 animals tended to by Dan, Brett and their father Merv, but since 2008 Dan and Brett have been inviting their motocross and biking buddies to the farm for a bit of an annual two-wheeled riot.


Dan and Brett had been portioning off small parcels of the farm to build their own dirt jumps and motocross boaters for many years before the idea struck them to start the Farm Jam. “Dan used to get all his moto buddies together for a bit of a ride and I’d be having all my BMX and mountain bike mates over to session the jumps”, says Brett “Then in the evenings we would be sitting around the fire with a few beers trying to tell each other about the crazy things people had done that day. I’d wish I had been able to see the moto boys and Dan would wish he’d seen the biking so right then we just decided that next year we would set a schedule so we could watch the fun.”


Since 2008 the Farm Jam has grown from a casual get-together to becoming a much larger get together where thousands of spectators descend on the farm to watch some of the best riders all three disciplines throw down, but still retains the informal jam format that sparked the original events. It continues to be an annual gathering where old friends catch up, reunite and celebrate, whether on bikes or in the paddocks over a fire and cold beverage. Although it’s described as a contest that doesn’t really adequately summarize what the Farm Jam is. No one is here to beat someone else. With a beaming grin that never seems to leave his face Brett explains, “We say it’s a contest because the public like that idea but no one here cares who wins. We try to impress on everyone that comes to ride here that it isn’t just a contest but having a cheque and a podium does help riders convince their sponsors to send them here.”


Thursday was the day before the day before the storm. Dan, Brett and brother Kris, as well as dozens of friends have been busy setting up the venue, grooming the jumps, staking fences, moving Portaloos and greeting newcomers. By the evening the tasks were beginning to be finished and the wind had died down enough that some riders took to their wheels. It was pretty casual but tomorrow practice officially begins and then on Saturday the main event will take place.





Stay tuned for daily photo and video coverage from the Farm Jam.