Mussel festival committee celebrates supporters

COMMITTEE members, sponsors and volunteers of this year’s Portarlington Mussel Festival gathered at the Lion’s Den in Portarlington last week to celebrate yet another successful festival.

The evening, which was catered by the Portarlington Lions, recognised all of those who participated in the festival, which attracted about 25,000 visitors.

Festival committee president Richard Underwood particularly thanked the sponsors who contributed substantially to the event.

These included The Drain Man, Portarlington and Drysdale Community Bank, Bellarine Bayside, Coastyle Solutions, Bayshore Electrical and Port Phillip Ferries.

Mr Underwood pointed out that festivals such as theirs incurred considerable expense not covered by the income the festival brought in, and without such support the festival couldn’t occur.

He said other groups and individuals, such as Geelong Bellarine Tourism, Lyn Ingles of Blue Pencil Publishing, and the Portarlington Community and Business Associations, provided other kinds of support that were invaluable.

“But of course the festival couldn’t happen at all without the nearly 300 volunteers, from organisations such as the RSL, the Coast Guard, the football and netball clubs, and the CFA, as well as local residents who turned up, some every year, to do all the tasks that a festival like this required,” he said.

“The evening was a small way to say thank them for this tremendous contribution.”

Mr Underwood concluded by saying that a “successful” festival could be measured in many ways – lack of incidents, takings at the gate, stallholder satisfaction – but what mattered most was the participation and pride of the community.

“By this measure this year’s mussel festival was the most successful yet.”