More than 21,000 people attended this year's Festival organised by Fonda La Clinica at the Sandown Entertainment Centre on 22nd and 23rd September. The Chileans celebrated their Independence Day accompanied by other Latin-Americans living in the state of Victoria in Australia.
This year the organisers once again demonstrated that they were the leaders of the Hispanic community in Melbourne. Due to great attention to detail the ambience was perfectly Latin-American. More than 60 flags were unfurled to decorate the main hall together with antique carts and vintage carriages, some with bales of hay and others with straw and barrels of chicha. The main hall was occupied by the groups Folkloric Violeta Parra and Fonda La Clinica. This was well received and highly praised by the general public. The 180 tables were elegantly decorated demonstrating the good taste of both organisations.
The parade of groups and artists on the main stage began midday Saturday and continued without interruption until 2am on Sunday morning, well organised and dynamic; it was a diversity of culture.
The Inauguration Ceremony began at 3pm, followed by the National anthems, the three first cuecas (Chilean national dance) were danced by the children finalists of the State Championship of Cuecas of this city, to the delight of the public and demonstrating that in Melbourne our folklore is still alive and will be for a very long time. Next were the speeches of Mr. Miguel Santana, Event Manager, Mr. Ignacio Concha, Chilean Cónsul, Mrs. Maria Sampey representing the City of Dandenong, and Mr. Telmo Languiller MP representing the Government of the State of Victoria. Mr. Andrés Ruz president of Fonda La Clinica declared the celebrations for this year open with the traditional toast of "chicha en cacho" (a sort of sweet wine drank in a bull's horn) and the cuecas began, sung by the San Bernardo group and danced by the members of La Clinica. Afterwards the excited public was also invited to dance.
Sunday the public began to arrive early and the show began around 12:30 pm We offered a variety of typical dishes, like meat soups, seafood soups, roasts, pork ribs, empanadas (Chilean pies), sweets, pastel de choclo (corn pie), candies, etc.
The craft market was very important this year, giving the opportunity to our artisans to display their hand made goods and also giving the opportunity to people from other countries to know a bit about our Latin American culture.
The bar, organised by the groups Amancay, Violeta Parra and Fonda La Clinica, demonstrated that with understanding and goodwill everything is possible. The sharing of this task was without doubt a very interesting and successful experience.
Fonda La Clinica wishes to express its gratitude and recognition to the 38 community groups of Victoria and all Australia that participated in the spectacular show. Also it wishes to thank to the City of Greater Dandenong and the sponsors whose contributions helped to make the Festival a success. More than 50 community groups and organizations participate. Thanks also to the newspapers and the community radios that unconditionally supported the publicising of the event. Last, but not least, a great big thank you to the volunteers who worked before, during and after the event.
The work has not finished. Already the preparations for the next year's Festival have begun. Our aim is to match the standard set by this year's event, and if possible surpass it. The Sandown Entertainment centre has already been booked by Fonda La Clinica for September 20 th and 21st 2008. Everybody is welcome. See you there! |
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