Second celebration for harvest festival

A CULTURAL festival celebrating the sun, harvest and local farmers and producers is set to return.

The Multicultural Harvest Festival is scheduled to take place at Garibaldi Public Hall on Sunday, 29 January from 10am to 2pm, was spearheaded by Neil Para who celebrated the festival in his homeland of Sri Lanka.

His inaugural event took place in early 2021, and although the intended follow up was cancelled, he said he’s keen to make it an annual event.

“Last time I was expecting about 50 and got 150 attendees so hopefully this will be even bigger. I want this to become a yearly thing,” Mr Para said.

“I came to Ballarat in 2013 and I would celebrate this at home with my family. No one seemed to be doing this as a festival here, so I thought I’d start doing it myself.

“This is about giving thanks to the farmers, land and nature which is part of Thai Pongal and celebrated by Tamil people.”

Free food will be provided throughout the event including a sweet rice pot, mothakam, paruppu vadai and quinoa salad.

They’ll also be live music thanks to Duck ‘N’ Weave and Freya and Tom McGowan, while children’s activities will be available.

Mr Para said although Thai Pongal is a religious festival back home, its celebration takes on a different meaning in Australia.

“I just wanted to do this here because we’ve always got food on the table,” he said.

“It’s the holiday season, and it’s the right time to appreciate the farmers here because without them we don’t have food in the world.”

Although entry is free, as RSVP is preferred for catering purposes, and can be done by visiting the festival Facebook page or website.