By Derek Schlennstedt
Families and friends came together to celebrate Halloween at Ferny Creek Recreation Reserve on Saturday 28 October.
The inaugural Halloween on the Green event attracted young families from across the Dandenong Ranges keen to dress up in their spookiest raiment and enjoy the lovely warm weather.
The festivities included Mayor of Yarra Ranges Noel Cliff getting dunked into a vat of water, face painting, a silent auction and various free carnival rides for the kids.
Andrew Fillip-Gautier organiser of the event and member of The Philanthropic Collective described it as a “wonderful success story” with the free activities allowing everyone to enjoy the day.
“It was incredible; I think the most amazing thing was that it regalvanised the community,” he said.
“I had a lot of parents coming and thanking us for the free activities … if the rides hadn’t been free a lot of families told me they couldn’t have afforded to go.”
“The Philanthropic collective is about that … so many families face hardship and the reason we want to do things like this is to provide somewhere for these families to all come together and enjoy.”
