Bellarine Times
Tuesday 11 January 2011
VOL 4. No 2
www.bellarinetimes.com.au
FREE WEEKLY
BIG WEEKEND
Showcasing his mussels and culinary skills at Portarlington Mussel Festival was Jack Rabbit Vineyard’s restaurant chef, David Hall. The locally bay-grown produce was at its finest at the festival, with mussel growers reporting one of the best seasons in years. Local chefs also excelled, serving mussels in a variety of sauces and cooking them using a range of techniques.
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THOUSANDS of visitors converged on the Bellarine for a perfect peninsula weekend of mussels, tranquility and long-awaited summer weather. Portarlington hosted its annual mussel festival, Ocean Grove Park presented its new year Tranquility Fair and creative Queenscliff took to the sand for some sculpting. Mussel festival committee president, Dick Underwood, said more than 15,000 people joined the annual mussel festivities at Port on Saturday and the committee’s aim of making the event even ‘bigger and better’ had definitely been achieved. “The crowd was up on last year. We were very diverse in where we promoted it and the event was bigger – the food stalls, kids area and we were really impressed with the number of people that enjoyed the entertainment,” he said. “The committee was also extremely happy with the family and community environment created by the festival; it was a great setting.” The excellent mussel season was also acknowledged as a huge bonus, contributing to the success of the festival and providing a boost to the local mussel industry. “The mussels are the best they’ve been for 12 to 14 years because of all the rain after years of drought,” Underwood said. “The rain produces a larger mussel that they’ve been able to harvest earlier. “We also had significantly more mussels – five tonnes were supplied – and different recipes were used, with a lot of people buying our recipe books so they could go home and try cooking mussels themselves. “The mussel industry itself does get a kickback from the festival, but it’s a two-way thing because the industry gives the festival a lot of support, too.”
And after the increasing success and broad appeal of the Portarlington event, the festival committee is already making plans for 2012. Underwood said the committee, which includes only eight core members but relies heavily on more than 80 volunteers to bring the big day together, has already discussed some areas for improvement next year to ensure the festival can continue to grow. “We already know we’ll probably need more volunteers next year, particularly with management of the stalls if there are more,” he said. Underwood said the committee had also introduced a gold coin donation entry this year which had allowed it to make a significant donation to the local CFA unit. Ocean Grove Park Association’s Tranquility Fair also raised important funds or the maintenance of the community-owned and managed park, while providing a relaxing day out for the local community and holiday makers. OGPA president, Colin Atkins, said between 5,000 and 6,000 people attended the festival, which was a sea of stalls, food, entertainment and families enjoying the atmosphere. “There was a steady flow of people all day… it’s great to be able to give the community and campers something to do and the quality of the fair is well known, now,” he said. Turn to pages 10 and 11 for more photos from the mussel festival, Ocean Grove Tranquility Fair and Queenscliffe Neighbourhood House’s sand sculpting competition.
Ham
BY ALISON MARTIN
Photo: MICHAEL CHAMBERS
Five tonnes of mussels, a sea of tranquility and sculptured sand mermaids created a huge weekend on the Bellarine
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