By PAUL MILLAR
SEA farmers are toning up their mussels for Portarlington’s annual festival, to ensure they can meet the growing demand for the molluscs.
Organisers are expecting a crowd of up to 30,000 to attend Saturday’s festival, with visitors tipped to shell out their dollars on at least five tonnes of the locally farmed shellfish.
Festival president Dick Underwood said the festival showcased everything that was good about the Bellarine.
“Everybody wants to try the mussels, you can cook them with anything, the sky is the limit,’’ he said.
There will be cooking demonstrations throughout the day, with local wines to wash down the mussels or, if you prefer, within the shellfish when they are cooked.
Roving acts will keep visitors entertained as well as live bands.
“We’ve been going for about eight years and it is getting bigger all the time,’’ Mr Underwood said.
“When we first started we had about 40 to 50 stallholders, this year we had to reject that number because we ran out of room.’’
This year’s festival will also include photography and art exhibitions.
