Mussel festival donates $30,000

THE Portarlington Mussel Festival committee recently held a barbecue to thank the volunteers and sponsors who made the event possible.

Portarlington celebrated its 13th annual mussel festival in grand style recently, with a cheerful, friendly crowd of more than 30,000 thrilled to attend in beautiful weather at the seaside town.

The festival couldn’t have happened without the help of more than 300 hardworking volunteers, who did everything from setting up, to cooking mussels, parking/bus control, welcoming visitors, to cleaning up afterwards, or without the help of its great sponsors.

At the thank you barbecue, the festival committee handed over $30,000 in profits to 18 local organisations who participated in this year’s running of the event.

This takes the event’s donations to more than $200,000 in 10 years.

Local organisations that benefited include Portarlington Football/Netball Club, Lions Club Portarlington Drysdale, Portarlington Cricket Club, Queenscliff Coast Guard, Portarlington CFA, Portarlington RSL, Bellarine Bayside, Portarlington Business Development Association, Portarlington Senior Citizens, Portarlington Primary School, Portarlington Information Booth, Bellarine Agricultural Show Society, Portarlington Bayside Miniature Railway, Portarlington Girl Guides, Portarlington Tennis Club, Portarlington Food Program, Springdale Community Garden and Drysdale Portarlington Fishing Club.

All the groups expressed their thanks and pleasure in being part of an event that has become one of the highlights of the year on the Bellarine.

The participation of such a number of local organisations, representing hundreds of individuals, shows what a special community event the mussel festival has become.

Committee members are already hard at work planning next year’s festival and looking forward to another successful event.