By Mikayla van Loon
The third annual end of year street fair, festival and parade in Lilydale is just months away and this year there’s been a few big changes.
Undergoing a rebrand to reflect the heritage and culture of the suburb, this year’s celebration has been named the Lilydale Melba Festival and Street Fair.
Street Fair founder and lead organiser Bec Rosel said it seemed like a logical next phase in the growth of the fair, particularly because Lilydale doesn’t have a heritage festival.
“It’s the first year we’ve started to bring out more heritage and culture and that’s something we will then grow on and build on,” she said.
“We want to tie in our parade with the heritage obviously stemming back to Dame Nellie Melba, because she is the face of Lilydale, but we want to make that more poignant.”
On the day, that heritage will be visualised with people walking around in period costume, as well as with some local historical tours in conjunction with the Yarra Ranges Regional Museum.
There’ll also be some well kept surprises for the parade highlighting that history but Bec said all would be revealed on the day.
In another significant change, this year’s festival will be held on Sunday 8 December, to tie in better with local trade and community sport, hopefully encouraging more people to attend and visit Lilydale.
“I think it’s going to work better on a Sunday. It also frees up volunteers and it does free up some kids too, because there’s no kids sports on Sundays,” Bec said.
“This was born in Covid and it’s there to highlight the businesses in the area. And that’s why being on a Sunday, because not a lot is open on a Sunday, it still brings people here, walking the streets and seeing what shops are here and then we hope they’ll return.”
With a shift in the timeframe to make the day run from 9am to 3pm, with the parade kicking off at 10am, Bec said she hopes it will encourage more people to be out and about in that hour before the parade to watch on.
For the rest of the day people can wander and explore the many food trucks, the 90 stallholders from authors to craftspeople, and browse the classic car display.
“We’re at capacity for stalls which is great and there’s lots of variety. There are lots of non for profit community organisations and then sporting clubs, local crafts and handy people and then services as well.”
Roaming performers, the main stage with numerous local artists, including the ballerinas, and the Lilydale CFA open day will provide entertainment and activities at every turn.
Again, Bec said a lot of this wouldn’t have been possible without the grant from Yarra Ranges Council nor the support of the Lilydale Township Action Group.
With the fair growing and developing each year, Bec said she is always excited to see and feel the reaction of the community.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how the increase in size can really make the town buzz. I still think there’s more we can do, but I don’t want to push the space as well,” she said.
“We’ve increased again this year, as far as store spaces, food vendors go and then having Clarke Street back, so reworking Clarke Street will be great, and just seeing how everything fits together again and what the vibe is.
“The vibe for me is the biggest thing. It was different last year to the year before, I think mainly because of the weather, but especially with the heritage feel, people walking around in period costume, just seeing how people respond to that, and then with hopefully a little surprise in the parade.”
And of course, Bec said if people want to lend a hand on the day, even just to be an information point or to sub in for stall holders while they take a break, it would be a huge help to the smooth running of the day.
To enquire about volunteering, contact Bec via email at rosel.bec83@gmail.com
