Food and music at Turtle Bend

WEDDING and events company, Elder Events Group, is preparing to open a licensed pop-up restaurant at Teesdale’s Turtle Bend Reserve over the summer.

The bar and café set up, Elderbar and Eats, will feature produce, wines and artistic talent from all around the Golden Plains Shire.

Co-director Orla Maxley said the project is about getting her team and the wider community happy and moving again.

“We’re going to showcase creative artists, a lot of musicians and host some alternative events like wine tasting as well as your standard breakfast, lunch and dinner,” she said.

“It’s a way to catch up in a safe environment, because homes aren’t looking to promising, and we can spread people as far as we need to.

“It’s about local produce, local people and local entertainment, a bit of an up lifter.”

Although the company lost most of its wedding bookings and commercial work during COVID, Ms Maxley said creating this pop-

up was and is a way for them to diversify.

“These structures were originally going to be used for festivals and events but what we decided to do is create a creative and local food and bar area that has a strong focus in entertainment,” she said.

“It’s basically two modified shipping containers, one is a kitchen with a chef in it and the other one is a bar.

“It looks a lot like a Melbourne café and seats will be outside, it will have a keg set up and a coffee machine and possibly a marque depending on the weather.”

The new temporary venture will be operating at the Teesdale Turtle Bend Reserve from 11 December for three months, opening Friday to Sunday from 9am to 9pm.

“We’re already had a big influx for opening weekend, so I would suggest booking then, hopefully as things loosen up it will be more casual, but if you have more than four, I recommend booking,” she said.

“We have our capacity at 80 because we didn’t want it to become too much of a music festival, we still wanted it to be a nice vibe.

“The idea of the whole thing was to encourage people who live in the area to ride their bikes or walk down and get a coffee.”