TO BRING to an end the month-long celebration of community and the arts in the Bega Valley, a family-friendly bonfire night is being held at the Old Bega Racecourse on Saturday.
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Music and entertainment, food stalls and a coffee van, will all be on site to mark the conclusion of a rather successful festival.
“The feedback I’ve been getting has been that the festival is great,” one of the organisers, Mal Barnes, said.
“The numbers at some events have been a little disappointing, but it was the first one and people are still trying to wrap their heads around the whole thing.
“It’s not just about art and business, but getting the whole community to come together.
“A lot of people can see the benefits it brings.”
Mr Barnes encouraged the whole Bega Valley community to head along on Saturday for the bonfire, which will have as its centrepiece a huge creation of the Tulgeen Riverside Nursery – BigFace!
The smiling BigFace has been created by staff and supported employees from Tulgeen’s Riverside Nursery.
The workshops to create BigFace were also open to the public over the past three weeks.
"We are expecting BigFace to delight children and adults alike at the bonfire," said Derek Povel, the creative force behind BigFace and the retail manager at Riverside.
"We hope this is the first of many BigFaces that the Riverside Nursery is able to provide to successive festivals, with increasing community involvement in future years."
Mr Barnes said he hoped the Festival would continue in the future, but that it needed more people to come on board to help organise it.
“Six people organised this whole thing, so next time we need more people on the committee and more ideas to come out – many hands make light work,” he said.
Mr Barnes thanked his fellow organisers Gordon Beattie, Chris Philips, Richard Maude, Andrew Gray and Gina Barnes.
He also thanked the many other groups and businesses that got behind the idea with support and concurrent events throughout the month.
Saturday’s Festival of the Face bonfire night starts at 3pm, with the fire to be lit around dusk.
Entry is by gold coin donation.