The whole cross-section of Orange’s multicultural community was on display at Harmony Day at Southcourt on Saturday afternoon, with over 1000 people visiting to try food of all cultures and to watch entertainment with roots from all over the world.
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Put on by Orange City Council and Orange CultureHub, the night saw community groups of all stripes take part.
Organiser and Orange City Council migrant support officer Anni Gallagher said she was “absolutely thrilled with the response” Orange had to the festival.
“There were always 200-300 people there so in total there would have been well over 1000 people,” she said.
“There were nine food stalls, so at least nine community groups were represented.
She said Gerard Powell heading up Indigenous Cultural Adventures and had crocodile skewers and emu choy bow which was “absolutely delightful, so delicious”.
The aim was to try and get small portion sizes so people could go out and try different flavours, and also to keep the food affordable.”
A stage was also set up, with performers from Irish to Aboriginal dancers among the many of those which took to the stage to sing and dance.
“We had amazing and beautiful performances, from dancing to singing and instruments and there was a whole cross section of the community performing,” Ms Gallagher said.
“The Indonesian and Nepalese dancers were delightful.
“The salsa dancer ran workshops during her show for Latin performances and got the crowd up on stage to dance.”
While funding came from Orange City Council and Multicultural NSW, a wide range of different groups across Orange came together for the event under what Ms Gallagher calls a “community development model”.
“Community development is people coming together showing what different skills they know and sharing them,” she said.
“Orange CultureHub in particular helped with the community development model, and Robin Marshall from Verto helped with food handling certificates to ensure really high standards.”
Ms Gallagher said around 40 people were involved in the stalls on the day, but there was a core of people who shouldered the bulk of the organisation.
“There were 10 or so key players who did a lot of the work and we’re so appreciative of them,” Ms Gallagher said.
“The whole event was just wonderful.”
