By Mikayla van Loon
The Mount Evelyn Street Party is set to make its return in 2023 no matter how big or small.
After such a successful year in 2019, Mount Evelyn Township Group secretary Paula Herlihy said whether it’s a scaled back event or one that is as big as previous years will all depend on how many people are willing to get involved in the committee.
With the first planning meeting scheduled for the first Thursday in February, Ms Herlihy said anyone can attend to share their ideas and join in the early preparations.
“Everyone’s welcome, because we had people who were really keen, we had people who were willing to be volunteer coordinators, people who were willing to do stall coordination,” she said.
“But we just couldn’t run it because of Covid. So all of those people will have found other things to do with their time.”
Not aiming to compete with other years due to the long break in between festivals, Ms Herlihy said the committee might set the bar a little lower to get back in the swing of things.
“I don’t think we have huge expectations, but it’s been getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger,” she said.
“The only expectation I’ve been saying to people is maybe set our sights so that we do have a slightly smaller festival because we’ve had between 10 and 15,000 people [attend].
“We’ll be happy if we make anywhere near eight or 10,000, not because we want to think small, but after the Covid shutdown we’re all a little bit uncertain.”
The biennial festival has traditionally been celebrated on the last weekend of October and has been running for over 20 years now.
Each time a different theme has been set, with the most recent festivals exploring the theme ‘memories are made of this’, rock n’ roll and 50s nostalgia.
“The people who come to the meeting are the people who decide what the theme is, what the date is, and so on, but recently it’s been the last Sunday in October,” Ms Herlihy said.
The committee then meets monthly in the early stages, before meeting fortnightly and then weekly in the lead up to the event to ensure plans are finalised.
While years have been missed here and there, the Covid period will be the longest the township has gone without hosting the street party.
“From 2019 to 2023 that’s the longest break we’ve had but it was purely Covid. We had the money, we had the committee, they all wanted to do it, we were just so unsure about what would happen.”
Beginning in 2001 as a Federation festival, the then Mount Evelyn Township Improvement Committee, with leadership from now Councillor Tim Heenan, planned a two day festival, with the main event to be a big sack race in an attempt to make the Guinness Book of World Records.
Since then, Ms Herlihy said activities have changed often, from a scarecrow competition to dance competitions but whatever the event brings, it is always a celebration of the town for the town.
“We’re not interested in running a festival for Australia. We don’t mind if people from the Yarra Ranges come but it’s not even for the Yarra Ranges, it is totally a great Mount Evelyn Street Party where we all just get out and meet each other and enjoy.”
Although plans are still to be decided, Ms Herlihy said the committee always aims to have a number of free activities, like a trackless train and face painting, to make it a fun day out for families.
Having received a $10,000 grant from the Yarra Ranges Council Grants for Community program, Ms Herlihy said the money will help ensure the festival has lots to offer the community.
The first planning meeting will be held on Thursday 2 February at the Mt Evelyn Community House Community Room starting at 7.30pm.
