South Melbourne's first street festival
The first ever South Melbourne Summer Festival is taking place on Sunday February 19th.
From 11am to 6pm, Coventry Street and surrounding areas will come alive with performances, demonstrations, workshops and food stalls. The
program is diverse, with interesting offerings ranging from historical house tours, to perfume making demonstrations, fitness challenges, kids' disco dance parties and shoe shine demonstrations.
With a staggering amount of eateries and bars, arts and crafts and many unique independent retailers, South Melbourne certainly has its own character. The idea behind the festival is to showcase that unique character and flavour in one exciting day.
Arts and crafts are a strong part of South Melbourne's history, and the Festival will give visitors the chance to experience the Australian Tapestry Workshop and local galleries. The Tapestry Workshop is offering tours to watch weavers at work and a kids' weaving workshop, while at the Cyclone Gallery, you can watch an artist in residence creating a new work.
Local craft shops Spotlight and Paperpoint are offering 'make and take' activities for kids and adults including papercraft, woodworking and knitting. If interior design is more your thing, the Southwood Trading store will be demonstrating 'how to dress your table'.
National Trust guided walking tours will highlight historical South Melbourne, and three 19th century prefabricated iron houses have been opened to the public for the day.
For entertainment, Australian musicians Dave Graney and Nick Barker will be taking centre stage on Coventry Street in the afternoon, with other performances from flamenco group Ocaso, and cabaret and comedy presented by the Butterfly Club.
Food will certainly be a highlight of the festival, with South Melbourne's diverse restaurants, bars and cafes cooking up feasts that emphasise the area's international flavour. The Afrikana Gallery will provide African wine and produce, while on or near Coventry Street you can savour the cuisine of Spain, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Mexico and of course, Australia. No doubt the famous South Melbourne Market dim sims will be featured heavily too.
Kids will be amply entertained at The Party Room on Union St with face painting, a fairy magic show and a disco dance party, and if they need some sugar after all the dancing, the Burnt Butter cafe is giving cupcake decorating classes.
For stylish South Melbournians, there will be fashion parades and a photoshoot, and a DJ will be entertaining shoppers at the South Melbourne Market's new designer section SO:ME space. At Fleurage Perfume Atelier you can sample handmade scents and learn first-hand about the complex art of composing botanical perfume
Fitness fanatics can take part in bench press or rowing challenges, see Taekwondo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu demonstrations, or get a free body assessment.
And if your shoes are particularly dirty after all the walking around, men's shoe boutique Beggar Man Thief will be giving shoe shining demonstrations.
For more information, check out
www.scoutabout.com.au (tip: visit the
Prizes page for details on some great competitions offered by local traders). See you there!
