Tuesday, 5 March 2024

Gippsland South electorate events

Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (13:13): The devastating storm event of 13 February that tore through Mirboo North has unfortunately overshadowed the massive success that was the Mirboo North Italian Festa just two days earlier. I hate to think what might have happened had that deadly storm hit two days earlier, given we had tens of thousands of people – literally – in Baromi Park for the massive event.

Starting out as the Feast of St Paul, in 2016 the event went mega and is now one of the most popular events on the Gippsland, multicultural and indeed statewide festivals calendar. I was most excited to be invited this year to take part in the grape stomp, and I am happy to report that my colleague in the other place Melina Bath and I had a win. It is a great credit to Rosie Romano and her extremely hardworking team of volunteers, who put on what is a massive event celebrating all things Italian and what Italian migrants have brought to Australia and Gippsland. It speaks volumes that just a few days later those same ladies were putting on a barbecue that should have been to thank the town and the volunteers for the festa but doubled as an exercise in feeding those without power and still struggling after the storm went through.

The festa is but one of many events on in Gippsland during this beautiful season. The Foster show last weekend was a massive success, particularly the increasingly popular dog high jump; 290,000 people have viewed the highlights on my Facebook page. On Saturday there was the Boolarra Folk Festival, attracting thousands, and this Sunday I am looking forward to the running of the Stony Creek Cup – a great day out at country racing. The events keep on coming, proving Gippsland is the place for food, wine, festivals and fun.