It has been nine months in the making and all the hard work put in by the Kerang Progress Association has well and truly paid off as the town’s first Lunar New Year Festival took place on Saturday afternoon at Atkinson Park in Kerang.
A free family event, it featured performers from many cultures, mostly travelling from Melbourne and Bendigo, so that Kerang residents have the opportunity to experience multicultural events without the need to travel to the city.
The line up included Lotus Artist Group – traditional Asian music & dance group, Aaron & Nita Hall of “Mugi Rahayu”, Lotus Artist Group and Indian dancers conducting interactive workshops.
Australian culture was not forgotten with That Guy providing a great performance of well-known tunes.
President of the Kerang Progress association, Angela Teasdale, said that the inaugural Kerang Lunar Festival was a resounding success!
“I was approached by Dieu Nguyen, one of our Vietnamese community, who was very new to town, about helping to organise a Lunar New Year Festival.
“She came along to a meeting, and we started the planning from that day,” Ms Teasdale said.
“It has come together beautifully. It’s awesome and the first time Kerang has held a Lunar Festival”
“All the children and families here is lovely to see.”
Gannawarra Shire Councillor, Charlie Gillingham, said that it was a great initiative of the team at the Kerang Progress Association and the council was very happy to support the event with nearly $5000 worth of funding.
“It’s great to see so many different nationalities here enjoying the afternoon, and the dancing so far has been great,” Cr Gillingham said.
“The local schools have contributed. The young children have done a great job entertaining the crowds so far and it should be a great evening.”
Kerang South Primary School principal, Lyn Veall, said that the organisers approached the school about getting involved as the school runs an Indonesian language and cultural program.
“Last Friday, all our students, were able to do a workshop and the families who were in town for the long weekend ,offered to come down and do the dance and singing,” Ms Veall said.
“It has been an absolute bonus for us as we teach Indonesian in the school, so it is lovely that this was offered to us as a part of the Kerang Lunar New Year Festival.
“We also asked Kerang Primary School students to come across and join us, so they came across and did the workshops as well.
“The kids have really loved it and it has been a wonderful opportunity to learn about another culture and the kids are really excited to take part.”
See all the pictures from the event in the issue.
This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 13 March 2025.
