By Taylah Eastwell
The 20th anniversary of the Mt Evelyn Street Party has been postponed, with committee members deciding to err on the side of caution with Covid-19.
Secretary of Mt Evelyn Township Group, Paula Herlihy said the Mt Evelyn Street Party Committee and Township Group members were “really hopeful” that the much-loved local event could go ahead this year to mark the significant occasion.
The biennial event is a huge name on the Yarra Ranges calendar, lighting up the sleepy Mt Evelyn village with stage performances, market stalls, vibrant vintage fashion, classic cars and plenty of community spirit every second October.
“The last one was in 2019 and we had been planning for one in 2021 and we were very enthusiastic that it would go ahead because it would make it exactly 20 years from the first one in 2001. We were going to have a display of the things we have done over the years,” Ms Herlihy said.
While not running the event in 2021 to celebrate 20 years is “disappointing”, Ms Herlihy made clear that the Mt Evelyn Street Party has run on a flexible calendar throughout its two-decades.
“There has been another time when we missed two years in a row, sometimes we’ve held it for two years in a row,” she said.
While there was an “enthusiastic committee of 20 odd people” keen to party, delays with the Covid-19 vaccine made the risk all-too-high for the event which typically attracts over 12,000 patrons.
“After the first meeting I was struggling to find a place big enough for all the committee members with social distancing rules in place. We were looking wildly popular and successful, so it definitely wasn’t anything to do with lack of interest from volunteers,” Ms Herlihy said.
“If the vaccine had been out in the community to everybody by now, I think we would have gone ahead. In the past some estimates have been as high as 15,000 people, and we felt with the vaccine not out that it was all up in the air. The last thing we want is to run an event and someone catches Covid-19. We decided to go for next year when things are hopefully a bit more certain,” she said.
The community party has been postponed until 2022, but a smaller-scale market event with stalls and children’s activities is currently in talks for October this year, with more details to be announced in due course.
Yarra Ranges Council have supported the organising committee’s by allowing for this year’s funding to be kept for the 2022 party.
“It’s really fantastic, it means we don’t have to apply again for funds so we know the party is going to happen and we have certainty. We’ve been very fortunate,” she said.
