By Mikayla van Loon
Another year of Lilydale’s end of year festival and street fair has wrapped up in excellent fashion sporting its biggest crowd yet and running a range of new activities.
The third annual Lilydale Melba Festival and Street Fair gathered between an estimated 3000 and 5000 people on Sunday 8 December.
Street Fair founder and lead organiser Bec Rosel said every aspect of the event was incredible from the weather to the volunteer support and community participation.
“From the very, very beginning of the day, the weather just turned it on. It was absolutely perfect. We definitely couldn’t have asked for a better day to have it. And everything just ran so super smoothly,” she said.
“I was so impressed and proud of our volunteers on the day, the whole process was just seamless, and I’ve had an overwhelming amount of emails and messages of positive feedback from our store holders and our vendors just saying how helpful they were.”
With over 100 stalls and Main Street’s shops getting involved, Bec said everyone was extremely positive and “they were all just thrilled” with how busy it was in town.
Bec said everywhere you looked in Lilydale “there was such variety and vibe and colour”, with the township coming “alive” with people.
“The performances on the main stage all day were just unbelievable. The kids that got up there and sang, they were just out of this world, just full of confidence and they were unbelievable,” she said.
“The street parade was great. It was really colorful. It was musical. There were lots of people involved in vehicles as well, and all our emergency services personnel, it was nice to be able to give them a cheer and thank them for their work throughout the year.
“The parade is something I really love and makes our event really unique, and I want to keep on building that for next year, and I’ve got some more ideas for that. So let’s hope we can get that happening in a bigger and better way.”
Not only was it the biggest event for the Street Fair itself but the Lilydale CFA boasted its biggest attendance too.
Adding a few extra touches this year, coinciding with a special summer launch at the Lilydale Outdoor Pool and the Yarra Ranges Regional Museum hosting historical tours, Bec said they too were a hit.
“People really loved seeing our people roaming around in their period costumes. That was really fantastic and the tours were really popular,” she said.
Already thinking ahead to next year, Bec has ideas set to grow the event yet again, with more offerings and more collaborations.
“It will become something unique to Lilydale and something that gives Lilydale a persona and an identity. We really want to bring an identity to Lilydale and give it back its identity.
“Give people a real sense of just how Lilydale has developed over the years, give them a bit of a historical tour of how Lilydale really came about, and the people who were integral in bringing the township to life and and hopefully continuing to enliven the township and help it grow and support the people there.”
Overjoyed by the constant busyness of the day, Bec said that had to be the highlight.
“There was not a moment where it wasn’t just buzzing and that was something that we’re all really proud of.
“And just the community spirit, the smiles and the laughter and the great variety of people and dogs that came out throughout the day, and the different groups of people, young and old, that was lovely to see.”
Of course, none of this could have been possible without the backing of the Lilydale Township Action Group, Yarra Ranges Council which provided a grant and all the volunteers who supported the lead up and the event day with their time.
“I send a massive thanks to the volunteers and everybody who’s participated, from stallholders through to people who visited on the day,” Bec said.
