As all Goulburnians know, our Lilac City Festival is Australia’s longest continuously run community festival. It was established in 1951 and has occurred annually, every October long weekend ever since, albeit digitally in 2020 due to the advent of COVID-19.
The following timeline outlines the plans (all being well) for the festival this October 2021:
• Friday the 1st brings the Lilac Lights Carnival to life.
• Saturday the 2nd starts with the opening ceremony, markets, live music in the rotunda in Belmore Park along with a memorabilia display and a “Trace Your Ancestors” stall. The Lilac Prince, Princess and Baby are announced along with the crowning of the new Lilac Queen. The ringing of the bells takes place at St Saviour’s Cathedral, being heard town wide. A quilt fair is held at the Soldiers Club and a family bush dance concludes the day.
• Sunday the 3rd consists of markets, a church service, parade, live music, puppet show, bell ringing, open garden and CWA afternoon tea.
• Monday the 4th wraps the weekend long celebration with markets, a fun run and bike ride, live music and the prestigious pet parade.
But it’s the entrants to the Lilac Queen, Prince, Princess and Baby categories we are interested in this week. Entrants into these contests raise thousands of dollars for local charities, and their hard-earned contributions to our community are greatly appreciated. We want to feature these worthy candidates in the paper to boost knowledge of their work and help support their efforts. If you are an entrant, please give our editor a call on 0458 752 701.
