G-Fest, Sunshine Festival to unite

Two of Geraldton’s biggest festivals are merging — the annual Sunshine Festival and G-Fest will unite in October.

Festivals on the Foreshore will be Geraldton’s newest premier event at a new waterfront location.

City of Greater Geraldton Mayor Ian Carpenter said the festival was a culmination of two of the City’s most popular events and the aim was to display the diversity and vibrancy of the region.

“We want to build capacity, pool our efforts, collaborate and create an event that will attract people to the Mid West region during the school holiday period,” he said.

“We plan to have something for everyone, from the festival parade, children’s activities and workshops, contemporary arts performances, garden tours, art exhibitions, water activities, music, astronomy, art markets, circus acts, a wide selection of food and drink and heaps more.

“We encourage everyone to invite their friends and family down to the event, whether they are locals or from out of town.”

The 10-day event will be split into “sunshine” and “moonlight” activities to fit in with both the previous targets of the Sunshine Festival and G-Fest.

Sunshine activities will have an increased focus on children and family activities, while the moonlight activities will still attract families but will also include some edgy adult-only activities.

One of the big drawcards will be the De Parel Spiegeltent. Purchased by Lotterywest as an asset for the entire state, this Belgian “mirror tent” was built in Europe during the art deco era and is beautifully decked out with velvet and brass booths, parquet floors, stained glass windows and thousands of reflecting mirrored surfaces.

Renowned entertainer and singer Mojo Juju will be one of the headline acts for the event, and award-winning Aboriginal songstress Emma Donovan will bring her big soul sound home to her father’s country for the first time.

Colourful, raucous band Junkadelic will be performing, roving and offer a masterclass for budding performance musicians.

Fringeworld-winning stars Natural Wings Dance Theatre will lead a circus line-up with their show Tandem, while Cougar Morrison, “the love child of David Bowie and Edith Piaf”, returns from rave seasons at the Melbourne and Sydney Fringe.

Festival director of G-Fest Raina Savage said they aimed to up the ante this year.

“Moving our fabulous Spiegeltent and Moonlight Pleasure Garden to the foreshore to create an atmospheric playground of delight is just one of the big changes we’ve made,” she said.

“We have an amazing line-up, showcasing some of Australia’s best music and most outrageous fringe arts performers; really living up to our motto of offering something to delight and offend just about everyone.”

Sunshine Festival director Yvonne Marsden said the team was very excited about the new waterfront location.

“This means the Sunshine Parade will start at QEII Seniors Centre, walk down Durlacher Street to the foreshore, and it will be joined with the pet parade to add more colour and involvement,” she said.

“The theme this year is Sunshine — so we’re encouraging people and their pets to be dressed in bright yellows and this will take place on Sunday, October 4, at 2pm.

“Scitech will be there offering great hands-on experiments and there will be many children’s workshops on offer, from cartooning to circus skills.”