By Mikayla Van Loon
Mount Evelyn’s biggest party is making a highly anticipated return as the streets turn into a bustling and vibrant show of dance, costumes, food and stalls on 29 October.
The first Mt Evelyn Street Party to be held since 2019, a committee of 20 was quick to sign up to assist in the planning.
“The committee has literally been in place for a year. That’s how long it takes to plan and execute something like this,” Street Party committee treasurer Tim Herlihy said.
Having received the largest amount of funding from a range of sources including Yarra Ranges Council, the State government, Bendigo Bank, Professionals Real Estate, local MPs, schools and early learning centres, not to mention the in kind donations, Mr Herlihy said it’s enabled the committee to put many of their ideas into action.
“It’s a free community festival with activities for all ages with a youth hub for youth oriented stuff, this is a first for us to have a specific youth area and that’s in Mount Evelyn skate park,” Mr Herlihy said.
“There’s market stalls, there are cooking demos of various types of international and Indigenous food, a classic cars display, a pin up competition and there are dance demos.”
Having always wanted to provide a dedicated space for young people within the festival, Mr Herlihy said it’s great it can now be offered.
“It’s something that has been talked about from time to time to have something that caters for youth but there hasn’t previously been someone on the committee who’s been committed enough to actually make it happen,” he said.
“This year, we have Dan Hickingbotham, who is a creative pastor at Discovery Church. He’s been the driving force behind getting the youth hub going.
“It’s been great that there have been some new people coming on to the committee and it has been a very ‘go for it’ committee.”
Some of the most loved elements of the street party will also make a return, with rockabilly style dancing, the best dressed competition and a chess tournament.
Also hear from Australian Idol contestant and local Josh Hannan from 10.30am on the main stage.
Hoping to make it as accessible as possible, there will be shuttle buses running from both the York on Lilydale car park and Morrison Reserve to the centre of the party.
Over 100 volunteers have also given up their time throughout the day to ensure the event runs as smoothly as possible and to ensure it can be free for the community.
To get the street party set up, traffic management will be in place from 7am, with the festival getting underway at 10am and running until 4pm, with an extra hour of road closures for pack up.
With so much to look forward to, Mr Herlihy said he’s excited about bringing the community together for one of the town’s most loved events that has a 20 year history.
“I’m looking forward to the street party running for the first time since 2019.
“The goal of the Mount Evelyn Township Group through the street party is to provide no cost or very low cost entertainment and activities for the community of Mount Evelyn and that’s what we do, that’s why we run it.”
