New festival format proves to be a sea of success

THE 2019 Festival of the Sea’s exciting new format that renews its focus on the sea and the community was a winner among young and old alike.

The “Festival of the Sea” is held each March and uses art, music, food, education and fun to highlight the marine environment and bring the community together.

Festival co-ordinator Naomi Wells said activities included a marine science night at Barwon Heads Primary School on Tuesday, Rockpool Ramble during the day and a Land Sea and Sky night on Wednesday, canoe trip down the estuary followed by a booked out Marine Trivia Night at the Barwon Heads Hotel on Thursday, and an outdoor ‘fishy films on the foreshore’ marine short film screening on Friday.

“We had well attended activities all round on Saturday, from Enviro Yoga in the morning, the public rockpool ramble, and the raft making competition with the local scout groups.

“The life size whale kites drew spectators all over the bridge, while our art poles featured the theme ‘marine debris’ and were well received.

“Local artist Kaz ran an art activity where kids painted over 150 wooden birds.”

Ms Wells said each musician had a large crowd and were praised by the audience.

“The Barwon Heads PS lanterns and rock art looked beautiful under the festoon lights.

“Each food van almost sold out of food and a lot of patrons used reusable cups, bowls and plates from Bellarine Catchment Network and Geelong Sustainability to cut down on singleuse plastics.”

Ms Wells said organisers received a lot of comments about how good the new format was and how beautiful everything looked.