Warrandyte Festival keeps on giving

by Cherie Moselen
10th December 2018

Photo: Stephen Reynolds – The Scrims, Warrandyte Festival 2018

THE WARRANDYTE Festival is the annual celebration that gives families and friends the opportunity to celebrate all that is great about Warrandyte’s unique community.

Impressively, volunteers have staged this beloved event for 43 continuous years!

One of the best things about Warrandyte’s biggest weekend is its “home-grown” attitude, which gives local talent the chance to shine.

Artists may dance or play music on stage; enter the Film Feast; hang their art in Friday night’s Rotary Art Show or sell hand-made crafts at market stalls.

Some perform in events like the Grand Read, which features Warrandyte’s literary best.

“Stars of Warrandyte” is the theme for Festival ’19, which runs from March 22 – 24.

Warrandyte schools, sports clubs and community associations are just a few groups who will kick off the fun-filled weekend, when they march in colourful costume in Saturday morning’s Grand Parade.

Organisers tell the Diary there are plans to expand several festival events.

The iconic Battle of the Bands, which gives local youth bands the chance to battle for the prize of spending a day in a recording studio, will move to centre stage from 4pm on Saturday March 23.

“Previously, the Battle of the Bands has been staged on a Friday night but the committee decided to bring the event into Saturday’s music programme to expose the local youth music scene to a wider audience,” says festival committee president Jamie Ferguson.

“We will be approaching local schools before Christmas to try and unearth as many of Warrandyte’s emerging acts as possible.

“We’d love to hear from any young performers keen to be involved.”

As usual, Main Stage performances begin after the 12pm Opening Ceremony.

Sunday’s Main Stage programme will start before 11am and continue a little later, finishing around 10pm.

All the good times return: billycart racing; barrelling down the Scouts’ giant waterslide; duck racing and dog showing.

Warrandyte Film Feast expects to grow substantially in 2019, because what’s not to love about short flicks, a good brew — beer, wine or coffee — and perfect pizza?

The past two events sold out fast and those who lucked in have spread the word, so, co-ordinators are hitching the event to a larger marquee.

The Lounge will start buzzing from 6pm with live music, before the first film screens at 8pm.

Organisers are receiving interest from the filmmaking community already and will put out a formal call to filmmakers over the next few months.

If you want to get your film fix on, Warrandyte Film Feast happens outdoors on the banks of the Yarra on Friday March 22, 2019.

Tickets go online early next year.

Be sure and grab some for your mates if you don’t want them to miss out.

Keep up to date with festival news by visiting Warrandyte Festival Facebook page.

Further festival details in Warrandyte Diary from February 2019.

Festival contacts

Battle of the Bands: If you would like to take part in the Battle of the Bands email:

battle@warrandytefestival.org

Film Feast: submission guidelines will be available on the Festival website at a later date, but filmmakers can send links to their films or request more info by emailing: info@strikingproductions.com.au

Art and craft market: Stall holder applications close December 14.

Forms can be found on the Festival website.

Volunteer: An inspired group of people of all ages puts Warrandyte Festival together.

If you like the thought of planning a big party or have a cracking festival idea please email:

contact@warrandytefestival.org