Bellarine Times
Tuesday 28 December 2010
VOL 3. No 52
www.bellarinetimes.com.au
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All aboard the Portarlington Miniature Railway! Train driver, Joe Groom and Drysdale Rotary Club will host its annual New Year’s Eve family celebration on Friday night from 4pm to 9pm. The event for all ages will include unlimited rides of the miniature express for $10, train rides, jumping castle, refreshments and lots of fun. For more information go to www.miniaturerailway.com.au
MUSSEL TIME Photo: ALISON MARTIN
Next week’s annual Portarlington Mussel Festival is shaping up to be the biggest and best since its inception, with the call going out for volunteer support.
BY ALISON MARTIN JUST LIKE the Bellarine’s mussel industry, the Portarlington Mussel Festival is growing - but more volunteers are urgently needed to support the 2011 event. The popular festival is only 10 days away, with more than 10,000 visitors expected to converge on Portarlington for the community’s biggest-ever mussel extravaganza. This season’s Bellarine’s premium blue mussels are looking and tasting superb, sponsorship for the festival has been secured and the one-day marketplace and entertainment will keep the crowds entertained for hours.
However the festival committee is hoping more community members will come forward to volunteer a few hours to share the mammoth task of setting up, hosting and cleaning up after the event. Festival committee spokesperson, Karen Shannon, said the committee had been working hard to bring all the elements of the mussel festival together in time for January 8. “The annual festival not only promotes the Bellarine mussel industry but all the wonderful food and wine producers that are located on the Bellarine.” She said the success of the festival was highly dependent on volunteers, who were considered a crucial asset. Volunteers can express interest in supporting the
festival online at www.portarlingtonmusselfestival. net.au. Shannon thanked the festival’s many sponsors, including principal supporters, Bellarine Peninsula Community Bank and City of Greater Geelong, who had all contributed to the event’s growth and promotion. Since the Portarlington Mussel Festival’s beginnings only 2007, the Bellarine mussel industry has endured a turbulent time with natural mussel production decreasing, impacting on the and availability of the locally-harvested produce. However the industry is now back on its feet and visitors can be assured there will be more mussels on the menu, cooked and prepared in a variety of ways to tempt every tastebud.
Portarlington Mussel Festival committee volunteers Lindsay Noss and Jenny Gallop are preparing for another bumper mussel festival in Portarlington.
ONGOING STORE SPECIALS Wishing all our customers a Happy New Year 61-63 Murradoc M Road, Drysdale
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