Swan Hill’s Riverside Park was a sea of colour and culture when hundreds joined together to celebrate Harmony Day celebrations on Saturday afternoon.
The annual celebration, which showcased the Swan Hill community’s diverse culture, featured a vast array of music, food and colourful activities.
Now in its eighth year, event organiser Kim Bennett said Harmony Day was the happiest day in Swan Hill.
“I thought it was lovely and every single year there’s a different vibe,” Ms Bennett said.
“This year’s crowd was so happy and relaxed.
“It was really nice to hear people telling me that they had been to every Harmony Day.
“It makes me feel really happy to know that we have a great return visitation.”
Ms Bennett said numbers at this year’s Harmony Day were down from last year’s 3000 strong crowd.
“I think we had about 1200 people,” she said.
“The community is changing it seems; there weren’t as many people from diverse backgrounds as there usually is.
“It was still terrific, just a different kind of crowd.”
A smorgasbord of food was on offer featuring traditional dishes from the Philippines, South Sudan and Afghanistan.
This year’s Harmony Day community project Home was a huge success as the 1100 individually decorated wooden homes came together to produce another colourful display.
“The Home initiative was fantastic; I’m really loving the idea of doing the community project each year,” Ms Bennett said.
“It was really great to see how devoted people were at making their homes special.
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