Fiesta Malaysia is back for another year! With more food stalls, an exciting line-up of performances, and tons of surprises in store for you, this year’s fiesta promises to be the best one yet. Experience a taste of Malaysia without the cost of a plane ticket. Best of all, entry is free which means more money to spend on curries, roti and nasi lemaks! When: 21 May 2016 Where: Federation Square Visit the Fiesta Malaysia website.
Enjoy everything that’s good about eating and dining in Italy at the Italian Wine & Food Festival. Debuting this year, the festival will bring together the best Italian cooks from Melbourne including Johnny di Francesco (400 Gradi) and Rosa Mitchell (Rosa’s Canteen + Rosa’s Kitchen) who will be headlining the show. Shop until your heart’s content with over 200 of Italy’s finest wines plus salumi, cheese, pasta, coffee, olive oil, gelato and pastries at the Gourmet Traveller Food Market. If you want to learn how to cook authentic Italian cuisine like Nonno, there’s be demonstrations from 400 Gradi, Caterina’s Cucina e Bar, 38 Chairs, Trattoria Emilia, La Bonta, Bar Idda and Saluministi. Spend the whole day there or even make a night of it with DJs playing the best Italian vinyl and European track until 9pm. Buon appetito! When: 11am – 9pm, Sunday 29 May Where: Royal Exhibition Building Visit the Melbourne Italian Wine & Food Festival website.
The Spanish Film Festival is fast approaching and this year’s program will bring a wealth of emotions with dramas, romances, thrillers and major box-office hit comedies from across Spain. (We also have 10 double passes to give away – see below!) The festival will open with the sequel to last year’s opener and box office smash Spanish Affair 2, adding more laughs and new twists to the relationship saga. Audiences enjoying the opening night film and party will find out what made the sequel – which again teams director Emilio Martínez Lázaro and with stars Clara Lago and Dani Rovira – the highest-grossing film of 2015 at Spanish theatres. Other highlights include: Closing Night Event: Embrace of the Serpent Surrender to a breathtaking cinematic odyssey through the Amazon on Closing Night with drink in hand and Ciro Guerra’s multi awardwinning, Oscar-nominated Embrace of the Serpent. The film follows the quests of two European explorers in search of a rare flower alleged to have healing properties – not to be missed on the big screen. Nothing …
The Melbourne Comedy Festival is celebrating it’s 30 birthday this year and they’re throwing one giant big bash to celebrate. From its humble beginnings with 56 shows across 33 venues, the Melbourne Comedy Festival has become one of the biggest in the world. This year the festival will put another cracking program along with some special events to recognize this very special milestone. 30th Birthday Bash – Gala Raise your glasses to 30 years of rip-snorting laughter and belly aches at the 30th Birthday Bash. The line up so far: Tommy Little and Cal Wilson will host Eddie Perfect, Rich Hall, Greg Fleet, The Umbilical Brothers, Wendy Harmer, Luke McGregor, Gerry Connolly, Nina Conti, Rod Quantock, Rachel Berger and Simon Munnery , wth more names to come. The Big Fat (30th Birthday) Comedy Quiz Think you’re the queen bee or king of comedy trivia? Take part in the big fat comedy quiz and battle it out for the crown. Play as an individual or play as a team but there can be only one super-fan to outwit them …
The Sydney Road Street Party is back this weekend, closing off most of Sydney Road (between Union to Victoria Street) for one giant block party! There’ll be everything from the hottest local music, dance, food and market crafts showcasing the best of the Moreland district! With its strong migrant-culture and explosive artistic population, this community is an inner-city hotspot that perfectly illustrates the bohemian and multicultural heart of Melbourne. When: Sunday, 6 March Where: Sydney Road, Brunswick Visit the website here.
Melbourne’s longest-running and largest community festival happens annually on the Labour Day long weekend. It’s all about ‘daggy’ family fun in the nicest possible way. Check out the Birdman Rally – people do really throw themselves off a bridge into the Yarra River using various homemade flying contraptions. There’s also music, water-skiing on the Yarra, skate park workshops, fireworks , a carnival in the Alexandra Gardens and the traditional Monday street parade with a ‘Moomba King and Queen’. It’s all free too, which is nice on the wallet. When: 11 March – 14 March Visit the website here.
The Lonsdale St Greek Festival is Melbourne biggest Greek street party, bringing a weekend of Greek culture, food and entertainment to the city’s historic Greek Precinct. There’ll be 3 stages of free entertainment, and activities plus enough Greek food to last you a lifetime. Snack on food from stalls such as Two Men & a Lemon (freshly-cooked salt and pepper calamari), Greek Street Food Truck, and the Cypriot Kitchen. If dessert is more your flavour there’ll also be St Gerrys (with their delicious modern twist on a Greek dessert staple – loukoumades), icecream sandwiches from Biskit Bar, 196 Below with their nitrogen icecream plus more. Zobra ’til you Drop will also be returning to test your endurance! Get your trainers on and see if you can be the last one standing! And for the little ones, there’ll be Greek dancing lessons, storytelling, art and craft, face painting and carnival rides. When: 27th Feb – 28th Feb, 2016 Where: Greek Precinct, 168 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne Visit the website here.
This weekend, The Melbourne Tomato Festival will take over the Edendale Community Farm in Eltham to celebrate ‘National Italian Day’. On the back of a sell-out event in its inaugural year, The Melbourne Tomato Festival 2016 will be a gathering of local farmers selling produce, speakers, agriculturalists, cooking demonstrations, Italian food, artisan producers, special guests, history, workshops, entertainment and of course, the main event passata making! When: Sunday, 21 Feb 10am – 4pm. Where: Edendale Community Farm, Eltham Visit the website here.
The Sustainable Living Festival returns to Melbourne this February and seeks to inspire and empower everyday Australians to accelerate their uptake of sustainable living. This year’s theme is ‘Embrace It’, where everyone is encouraged to embrace the winds of change. Many of the Festival events have been developed by and are being held within local communities ranging from city and metropolitan locations to regional cities and rural towns. The Big Weekend is the flagship three-day event held at Federation Square, Melbourne on 12-14 February 2016. Some major highlights include: The Green Market – showcasing over 100 exhibitors offering sustainable home and lifestyle solutions, garden advice and gear, fair trade products, and local organic food. Visitors are encouraged to explore the Festival’s rich and diverse program of forums and workshops, exhibitions, films and performance, markets and tours to make their world come alive! So come along and check out what’s on offer at the Sustainable Living Festival. The Great Local Lunch – On banks of the Yarra River, in the heart of Melbourne, over 200 farmers, backyard …
Celebrate summer with passion at the Melbourne Latin Summer Festival this January 9th. This annual free event will showcase Latin American art, culture and entertainment including cuisine, art, music, nightlife, family entertainment and activities, as well as crafts, jewellery and fashion stalls. Dance along to Latin music styles including salsa, reggaeton, cumbia and bachata or stand back and enjoy the circus-inspired roving performances. In between dancing try all sorts of Latin street foods from Chile, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and Brazil. When: 12pm – 9pm, January 9. Where: Federation Square Visit the website here. Want to find out more about what’s happening in Melbourne? Sign up to the We Know Melbourne mailing list here to stay in the loop.
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