Festa and fashion go on show

GEELONG is no stranger to street parties and parades, as the home of Victoria’s largest free multicultural street party, Pako Festa!

All the colour and spectacle of this action-packed cultural extravaganza will return next Saturday, 28 February, drawing more than 100,000 people to Pakington Street.

For four decades this beloved community event has brought incredible food and vibrant costumes, dance and traditions from all four corners of the earth to our city’s cosmopolitan heartland.

Pako Festa is always a personal highlight for me and, while I can’t wait to join in the festivities, I’m equally excited for a new event that’s celebrating Geelong on the world stage.

Geelong Fashion Fortnight burst onto the runway last weekend, and continues until next Saturday, as part of Melbourne Fashion Week.

It’s the first time this globally-recognised fashion showcase has come to Geelong.

Geelong is a fitting location for the festival’s inaugural expansion into regional Victoria, as fashion is interwoven in our city’s DNA.

Geelong was once declared the “wool capital of the world” due to the massive volume of wool shipped from its port, and to this day the term “Super-Geelong” refers to one of the finest quality grades of merino wool.

And wool is just one aspect of the rich heritage of textile production and innovation threaded through our cultural fabric.

Our National Wool Museum celebrates this heritage, while showcasing our city’s talented emerging fashion designers and creatives.

As part of Geelong Fashion Fortnight, the museum is celebrating clothing designers, jewellers, photographers and fibre artists in its latest exhibition, Interwoven: Fibre Art and Fashion, in partnership with the Australian Tapestry Workshop.

Fashionistas across Geelong are also getting involved, with runways, exhibitions, window galleries, jewellery-making and travel wear workshops, and a giant installation made from recycled t-shirts.

And after you’re done checking out the latest fashion trends, you can enjoy all the colour and variety of traditional costumes in our beloved Pako Festa.

This Geelong institution dates back to 1983, when the Geelong Ethnic Communities Council got together with Geelong West Traders and Geelong West City Council with an ambitious idea for a community-driven celebration of our region’s diverse cultural communities.

The first Pako Festa attracted 12,000 people and ended with a tug of war. It’s since grown into one of our city’s largest events, with a street parade featuring 2,000 participants and about 10,000 people performing on multiple live stages.

I’m proud of the City of Greater Geelong’s ongoing support of this event, alongside the Victorian Government.

As a community, we should support local celebrations and initiatives that bring us together, into safe spaces where we can learn about each other’s cultures and beliefs, and celebrate all that’s good about Geelong and our diversity.

That sense of coming together locally is something many of us remember from the ’70s through to the early 2000s, and I think it still matters just as much today.

Pako Festa is a great example of how unity starts close to home, and I can’t wait to see you there!