Thousands flock to Surf Coast Kite Festival

SPIRITS soared in Torquay for the annual Surf Coast Kite Festival with thousands of people turning out for the event at Fishermans Beach.

A Jan Juc Preschool fundraiser, organisers estimate thousands of dollars were raised at the weekend event which will go towards building a bike and scooter shed at the learning centre.

Organiser Ria Cooke said arrived before the event kicked off at 10.00am on Sunday (October 23) and the crowd of more than 3,000 people continued well after the official end time of 2.00pm.

“We really lucked out with the weather…everything just ran so well,” she said.

As participants of the free community event flew kits they were treated to beats of African drummers, giant bubbles and circus play from Fresh Creative Entertainment and introduced to native animals by Wildlife Exposure.

It was the first-time organisers aimed to run it as a carbon neutral event and Ms Cooke said she was overwhelmed by the result that saw only a quarter of a 240-litre general rubbish bin filled and six similar size bins filled with compostable waste.

“We’ve always been a Plastic Wise event in the past, but we received a grant from the Surf Coast Shire under its Climate Emergency Program to help us go carbon neutral.

“We partnered with B-Alternative, they handled all our waste management,” Ms Cooke said of the social enterprise that helps organisations to eradicate waste by using sustainable alternatives.

“They tell you what to tell food vendors what packaging they need to come, dispose of all our organic waste and then tally up carbon emissions.

“B-Alternative were just blown away that we had so little, they were just so proud of the community and everyone involved learning about what waste goes where.”
Ms Cooke said the entirely volunteer run event would not have been possible without both their support and the more than a dozen sponsors that pitched in and is confident that next year’s festival will return even bigger and better than this years.

“The first event was in 2017 and started off really small, but it’s grown so much…but it’s still got the same idea of just being a fun, free family day out.”