Ocean Grove enjoys Tranquility Fair in twilight

FOR more than 20 years Ocean Grove Park has come alive the first Saturday in January and this year’s annual Tranquility Fair embraced a cooler twilight slot, a third year in a row.

Starting at 4pm and running until 9pm Ocean Grove Park Association president Don Pietrapertosa said this year the weather was a little too cool but crowds still turned out to enjoy festivities.

“The event was really good, we had somewhere between 4 to 6,000 adults and children go through the gates. The weather was a bit too cool but people still turned up,” Mr Pietrapertosa said.

“Other than the weather it was great. We had a lot of compliments as people were leaving. They had a good time, we had five bands playing across the event.

“The music sounded really good, a lot of people were grooving to the music, a few people were having a quiet drink at the bar (run by BrewiColo), people were walking around tasting food from the various food vans and buying bits and pieces.”

The event delivered a fun evening for the whole family, with 70 market stalls, children’s entertainment, carnival rides and food stalls.

Mr Pietrapertosa said the money raised from the event will go back to maintaining the park, which is community-owned and managed, while 10 per cent of the gate fees will be donated.

“We’re going to donate 10 per cent of the gate keeping towards the current bush fires. The money raised will go towards maintaining the park; we’re looking at updating the current children’s playground,” he said.

Crowds browsed and bought handmade jewellery, candles, unique clothing and accessories, handicrafts, artwork, pet products and wind chimes.

The tranquility corner featuring reiki healing, relaxation massage, henna ­tattoos and tarot card readings, along with crystals, aromatherapy products and dream catchers.

Kids loved the kids corner with hair braiding, a puppet show, toy stalls, lucky dip and fairy dresses.

“The entire event is run by volunteers. We start organising the fair pretty early every year and then setting everything up takes a lot of time,” Mr Pietrapertosa said.

“Next year we want to make it bigger and better and hopefully the weather is a little bit warmer, but all in all we are very happy with the outcome.”