A new festival celebrating Greek culture will be held in Portarlington during the upcoming Melbourne Cup Weekend.
The festival will feature Greek food, music, markets and activities to help increase awareness of other cultures among the Bellarine community.
Managing director Alexandra Dascarellos said she looked forward to hosting the event for the first time and hoped to see a “great turnout of people”.
“My objective is to unite people, as we are all one, and when we do that, we break down any prejudices, and we become more tolerant and accepting of each other,” she said.
“The world, as it stands today, needs more cultural festivals to increase awareness of other cultures and…there’s no better place for a Greek festival than Portarlington.”
Ms Dascarellos said the festival was dedicated to her parents, who made sure she and her siblings were raised to know their Greek culture.
“They (her parents) had eight kids, and dad taught us all how to talk Greek, and he had many parties at home because he wanted his family to learn how to dance Greek,” she said.
“He also broke many of my mum’s plates with his excitement when he saw his children dance, and he always said he would replace them, but Mum never believed him, and he never replaced them.”
The Portarlington Greek Festival will be held on the WG Little Reserve and in the Seniors Community Parks Hall from 10am to 5pm on Sunday 2 November.
The event will also be livestreamed during the day on the festival’s Instagram page.
