By Emma Xerri
Another terrific weekend has come and gone for the Upper Beaconsfield Village Festival, who have proven mighty storms aren’t enough to stop their small committee.
Pulling out all the stops to make this year’s event one of their best, the six-person committee ensured there was no shortage of things to do.
From the festival’s extremely popular art exhibition, to a number of stage acts and magic shows, and even the CFA’s delicious pulled pork buns, the day saw more than 2000 happy faces, with attendees turning to social media since the event to continue sharing their joy.
“I would say over 1500 people went through the art exhibition yesterday,” Ms Hawke said.
“At one point I went to go in but the crowd was so big that I decided to go back later.
“Kids were also challenging themselves to tackle the climbing wall and ninja jump, which were both big hits, and our annual tower run saw more than 350 runners, kicking the festival off in tremendous fashion and seeing some unbelievable record times.”
And while the festival’s many activities go into making the day a celebrated part of the community calendar, Ms Hawke believes the connections made at the event are what make the festival so sacred, even after more than 40 years.
“I was talking to the Scouts, for instance, who had connected with the Men’s Shed, and the Joeys are going to do woodworking with them,” she added.
“Those kinds of things don’t really happen unless people congregate in one place and talk to each other.
“St John’s Church also ran a fashion parade which everyone was raving about, and I think a lot of people didn’t realise St John’s have an op shop or know about the great stuff they’ve got.”
As well as continuing the festival’s longrunning traditions, this year’s event also saw the introduction of an incredibly important new initiative, with the festival making the move to reduce their single use plastics.
“This was the first year we did cup washing, so there were no takeaway cups.
“We had a mug swap station run by two of the venturers from the Scouts, and they did an absolutely amazing job keeping the cups topped up at the coffee vendors.
“We also provided water stations and banned single use plastics, making sure every stall was serving their food in compostable or recyclable packaging to ensure we had as little as possible going to landfill.
“There were also school enviro warriors helping people decide where to put their rubbish, and in a few weeks’ time they will be using all of the compostables as compost in the community garden.
“In doing this, we want to illustrate that you can hold an event with over 2000 people and have very limited waste going to landfill, while actually putting resources back into the community.”
