Prom Coast Seachange Festival – two wonderful weekends

BIGGER and better than ever, after two weekends packed with more than 60 events, the 2015 Prom Coast Seachange Festival wound up on Sunday evening, leaving organisers delighted – and exhausted.

The final event was a magnificent concert of Italian music performed by violinist Cath Shugg and pianist Serena Carmel at the Celia Rosser Gallery in Fish Creek, where the brilliant original artwork from ‘The Banksia’s Volume III’ is currently on exhibition (and can be seen until June 14).

Earlier in the day, at the Foster War Memorial Arts Centre, there was a sell-out performance by combined local choirs of the cantata ‘They Went With Songs’ and a staging of Edwin Coad’s one-act play, ‘The Catafalque Party,’ written for the centenary commemoration of Anzac Day.

Concerts and exhibitions formed just one part of the busy festival program, which included everything from a breakfast and bird walk/talk and a series of garden walks to kite flying and treasure hunts at Sandy Point, campfire cooking in Foster’s Manna Garden and the Melbourne Canine Freestyle Group’s dancing dogs!

A main event of the final day was, as always, the Toora and Foster Community Bank Long Lunch, which saw Foster’s main street become an al fresco dining room. Diners bought food from the shops and stalls that lined the street and then ate at tables set up down the centre, musicians and other performers added to the festive atmosphere. In the midst of it all, Prue Fleming ran her 50-cent Challenge, and thanks to the generosity of the public managed to raise more than $1700 for the Prom Country Aged Care.

“One of the best things about the festival is the range of events. It’s very broad, there’s something for everyone,” said Prom Coast Seachange Festival committee chair Deb Bray. She is thrilled with how involved the community has become in the festival, with many community groups running events. The response from the public has also been wonderful, she said, with the vast majority of events well attended.

“Having the festival over two weekends allows people to enjoy more events without becoming too exhausted,” said Deb Bray, adding that many thanks are due to the dedicated volunteers who make up the Prom Coast Seachange Festival committee. “It has been a great effort on their part, and I thank them all.”

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