By Tyler Wright
With a variety of entertainment for families and visitors, the long-running SelbyFest is returning to the Dandenong Ranges in 2022.
Supported by Yarra Ranges Council, community groups including Belgrave Rotary will be volunteering, with the Southern Dandenongs Community Nursery, Belgrave Library staff and Belgrave Police officers all in attendance for a celebration of culture and community.
Local radio station 3MDR will take over music programming on an outside music stage and within Selby Community House.
“The library are going to be here doing some interactive projects… we have face painting and we’ve got the church making cupcakes, so there’s absolutely a broad range of activities, but also that interaction with our different community groups and our stallholders as well,” Selby Community House manager Yvette Hayes said.
This comes after a mini SelbyFest drew 800 attendees in October 2021, with Yvette expecting this year’s festival to surpass this number.
“We really want the community to enjoy being part of something that’s very hidden; It’s a little hidden gem in this area,” Ms Hayes said.
“It’s not just one little tiny community house, we have a amazing wild playground area called Wombalana, and in that is a recycled-made massive, great wombat… another aspect is our Indigenous bush roots garden.”
Another key aspect of SelbyFest in 2022 is sustainability, with stallholders using reusable plates rather than plastic and the decision to not use one-off items.
Ms Hayes also hopes the house will be able to run its fashion parade in which models will sport sustainable headpieces.
“We really want to promote people to bring their keep cups and their reusable water bottles…and if they’ve got their own cutlery even better,” she said.
“We really want to encourage people to understand the environment where it is so pristine…
“We’re set in the lower end of the little hill wetlands, and this was regenerated over some 50 years…it used to just be an oval…it’s now completely bush, there’s these amazing wetlands…and we really want encourage people to understand how we look after that.”
SelbyFest will take place from 2pm until 8pm on Saturday 26 November at Selby Community House.
“The big thing about Selby, and it’s always been the outcomes that people have mentioned, is that sense of community; they’ve always felt like it’s a great day, joyful, it’s fun, It’s got all these different exciting activities that people can engage in.”
Contact Selby Community House on 9754 2039, via email at engagement@selbyhouse.org.au or visit https://www.selbyhouse.org.au/events/selbyfest/ for more information.
