RIVERSIDE Park was alive with music, food and dancing on Saturday evening as Harmony Day festivities drew one of the biggest crowds the event has ever seen.
Harmony Day committee member Camille Cullinan told The Guardian she estimated around 3000 people were at Swan Hill’s 13th Harmony Day event based on food sales and the fullness of the space.
“It’s very much about celebrating the diversity that we know have in our community, giving people somewhere they can celebration their culture and traditions as well by providing food or getting dressed up in their traditional clothing,” she said.
The event showcased the diversity of Swan Hill’s population, and included 13 food stalls with cuisine from across the world, a variety of performances, children’s activities, community information stalls and a traditional dress parade.
“For us, we started it when we saw a lot more of the multicultural community, like migrants and refugees, moving into Swan Hill,” Ms Cullinan said.
“It was about bringing the Caucasian, long-term population together with the multicultural community, but also helping the new residents to our town feel like they belong in this community – it’s worked, because we have actually had people that have been involved in Harmony Day and have brought houses here and decided to stay because they felt so welcomed into the community.
The annual event is run mainly by volunteers, with the committee members representing a range of nationalities, including Mauritian, Fijian, Nigerian and Indian.
“I would like to thank all the supporters, all the businesses and community organisations who supported us on the day, and to acknowledge all of the wonderful volunteers who actually made this happen,” Ms Cullinan said.
“It would not have happened without the volunteers.”
