Pako Festa, is Geelong’s much loved, award-winning, free, annual community street festival – the biggest of its kind in Australia.
Managed by Diversitat and held on the last weekend of February in Pakington Street, Geelong West, “the multicultural heart of Geelong”, it incorporates an extravagant street parade featuring around ninety floats and hundreds of performers representing forty-five affiliated ethnic communities and other local community groups, schools and organisations.
The street is lined with stalls selling traditional foods and arts and crafts, and six separate stages in the precinct offer performances of music and dance as well as interactive workshops and exhibitions.
Pako Festa offers a unique opportunity for those 100,000-plus participants to socialise and celebrate in an arena of ethnic diversity and harmony, as well as gaining an appreciation of the great variety of artistic and cultural expression within Geelong’s multicultural community.
Today we spoke with PakoFesta Event Director Luisa La Fornara about the upcoming festival.
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