Waddle on! Anglesea’s sand penguin parade is back

A WADDLE of penguins will nest in Anglesea later this month when the annual sand penguin parade returns for a fourth year.

Kids and families, locals and visitors, are set to gather at Anglesea Beach on Saturday, January 25, between 10am and 4pm, with the goal of moulding 1,000 sand penguins along the coast.

The family-friendly beach activity was first started during the COVID-19 pandemic by Anglesea local and then-eight-year-old Willow Trickett, who left penguin castings and notes written in the sand in an attempt to bring joy to others.

Since then, the popularity of the parade has continued to grow year-on-year, with 15 families helping to cast just over 100 penguins in the event’s inaugural year, 30 coming together in 2023 to mould just shy of 200 penguins, and the efforts of more than 50 families last year contributing to a sea of almost 500 penguins.

“We even have people just walking along the beach join us as well. Not just kids – we’ve had adults too,” Willow’s mother Mandy said.

“It’s a great, free family day… out in the open air, just spending time with like-minded people and having fun with the kids.”

 

 

This year’s parade will be the first to extend beyond four hours, giving more people the chance to participate.

Ms Trickett said moulding the perfect penguin beak could be tricky, as breakage – or “beakage” as Willow and her mother have termed it – is common, adding to both the challenge and the fun.

“The excitement when someone gets a great beak from all the crowd is just incredible,” she said.

Creativity is also encouraged, with penguins often resembling mermaids or sporting seaweed hair and cuttlefish wings and surfboards, while others enjoy their own sand igloo and the benefits of home ownership.

Willow, now 11, is thrilled to see the event continue to bring the community together.

“She hopes that it will still be going when she has kids one day,” Ms Trickett said.

“She says, by that time, we might be making 5,000 of them.”

For more information, or to purchase a penguin sand mould ahead of the event, phone Mandy Trickett on 0400 166 905 or drop her a message via the Anglesea Indoor Market Facebook page.