Bohemian fest to bring bigger event

AFTER debuting earlier this year, organisers behind a festival aimed at providing women with a weekend to themselves are preparing to put on the event again next year.

The Valentine’s Day weekend will mark the return of the Bohemian Summer Festival at Ballan’s Phoenix Park.

Co-founder Julz Taylor said next year’s event will feature several exciting additions.

“I think everyone enjoyed it last time and we got a lot of positive feedback but there were things we wanted to bring forward that we didn’t have time for earlier,” she said.

“We’ve got an outdoor cinema on the Friday night, there’s a comedy night from Clare Elizabeth Dea, and Patrina Jones from Gold 104.3 doing ‘Rage Against the Menopause’.

“It’s a bit more of a mix next year, to really make it a great girls’ weekend. There’s so much on.”

Alongside the new additions, 80 market stalls featuring everything from tarot readings to handmade crafts, jewellery, and art will be available.

Workshops and creative displays will also feature, with attendees able to stay the weekend with glamping, camping and cabin accommodation.

With 200 to 300 women involved including 30 presenters and food vendors, organisers are also calling out for volunteers to help coordinate the nascent event.

“We probably need roughly the same as last year, which is 15 people, but we have more people in lead roles,” Ms Taylor said.

“One thing we learnt from the previous event was having more of those lead roles arranged, having certain people take care of certain things.

“Last time, Kerri [Macpherson, co-founder and Ms Taylor’s sister] did everything. We never really delegated before the event. This time we’ve learned to trust the women and give them more leadership so we can enjoy the festival as well.

“It’s nice to see that collective sisterhood which we don’t really see anymore. We used to raise our families in villages and now we’re separated so it’s nice to come together and have that village.”

The Bohemian Summer Festival will run from 14 to 16 February. Tickets as well as the program can be found on the event’s website.