The Cats and Bombers have launched the 2017 Powercor Country Festival.

The Festival kicks off with Geelong and Essendon meeting in a JLT Community Series game in Bendigo on Sunday.

It then continues when the teams clash in a Saturday night premiership season game at the MCG in round eight (May 13).

To launch the festival, star Cats forward Tom Hawkins and gun Bombers midfielder Zach Merrett took part in a whip-cracking display at the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds.

Both Hawkins and Merrett are country boys. Hawkins hails from the New South Wales town of Finley, while Merrett is from the western Victorian town of Cobden.