Sunraysia Mallee Ethnic Communities Council (SMECC) chief executive Dean Wickham has seen five multicultural festivals celebrated in Mildura. He says the key to success for this year’s upcoming festival is the three Fs – food, fun and fashion. Ashlee Falvo dove into the history of the event, how it came to be, and what festival-goers can expect from this year’s party.
Pictures: Carmel Zaccone
From an event with just 500 attendees five years ago to more than 1500 festival-goers last year, the SMECC multicultural festival has embedded itself as a permanent staple in the Sunraysia community calendar.
SMECC chief executive Dean Wickham says it was stories told to him by “older community groups” – Italian, Greek, former Yugoslavia – that inspired the creation of the event.
“If you go back a long time . . . the older community groups would tell the story of an ‘awesome picnic’ they used to have at Lake Cullulleraine,” Dean says.
“They’d get a bus out there, gather together, cook and share their traditional food, and they really looked forward to it every year . . . they got to mix with people who have been through similar experiences.
“We looked at it and considered at some multicultural grants to see what we could do – having a stand-alone event wasn’t possible, so we did it in town to include as many people as possible.
“We’d train community members in food handling and events management and expose them to those elements throughout the lead up the event itself.”
With such cultural diversity in Sunraysia, it seems a representative from almost every ethnic community is on board to bring their own flair to this year’s festival, making it a true multicultural affair.
“We have new Congolese arrivals this year, so they’ll be participating for the first time,” Dean says.
“The great thing about having the event annually is that it actually tracks the community as it goes along.
“Some of our communities are transient – the Tongan community swells and grows at different stages of the year, so does the Indian community – they might move on to the next town.
“It’s good to have (the festival) on a regular basis as a barometer of community and how it’s travelling, it’s a good vehicle to do some of the work that we do out in community and to showcase that in a different way.”
Dean says the first festival was very much a “small, in-house affair.”
“The profile of the festival has grown over the years – we made it to the QANTAS in flight magazine, and it’s amazing that people can be sitting on a plane flying back from Melbourne, flicking through that magazine and read about the festival,” he says.
“It’s a really positive environment for us all to be in and the profile and support coming from outside the region is just amazing. People pencil it into their calendars.
“If we can get even a couple of those people to come to Mildura, then that’s a good thing.”
Festival co-ordinator Melanie Payen says the event has grown from strength to strength over the years as more and more new arrivals bring their unique traditions to the region.
“We have 11 different food stalls lined up this year, including Tongan, Afghani, Fijian, Phillippino and Nepalese,” Ms Payen says.
“The food is one of the big draw cards of the event each year; we also have a cultural dress fashion parade this year, where people can show off their traditional wear, that should be really fun and colourful.”
The SMECC Multicultural Festival will be held on Saturday, June 22, from 4pm to 10pm on Lime Avenue, between Eighth and Ninth streets.
Entry to the festival is free.
