Hop over to Tilba this Easter for their annual festival

If you’re after fun for the whole family this Easter, consider scarpering down the South Coast for the return of the annual Tilba Festival.

Taking place on Easter Saturday (16 April), the festival will see Tilba come alive with food, live music, dance, retail stalls, games and activities to keep everyone entertained.

Tilba district chamber president Susan Gray said the festival was a tradition that had been running for about 40 years.

“We’re really happy that we’ve got the festival back on track as it is such a big deal for the community,” she said.

“It’s really important for everyone’s morale to celebrate Tilba as well, especially after the fires. I think it was a real boost to everybody to be able to have one in 2021.”

The festival was one of the few events that could go forward in 2021, Ms Gray said.

“We got an exemption so we managed to slot last year’s festival in between the COVID lockdowns,” she said.

“It was actually a really successful event, we had [an attendance] limit and a full COVID safety plan so we were very lucky and I think everyone was super keen to get out and about.”

Last year’s event had 5000 attendees and this year, Ms Gray expects the same.

“The pre-selling of the tickets online also continued for this year’s festival as it was just a little bit easier to organise logistically to maintain that nice, comfortable number of people,” she said.

Corkhill Corner Ceramics stall holder Jo Weire said this is her first year participating in the Festival.

She operates out of her and her good friend and neighbour Heather’s studio on CorkHill Drive in Tilba.

“I’ve been to the festival before and whilst now I’m a bit nervous about having a stall, I think its going to be a fun day,” Jo said.

“We love making pottery and though we had only just started late last year, the support from the local community has been really good, so I thought I’d have a crack at putting our pieces on display for the festival.”

“I started making pottery as a hobby during COVID and I think it was maybe October or November that Erica from the Tilba Dairy came and had a look and then said she’d love to have my pottery in the shop,” she said.

“That’s also around the time Heather came on board and we started making as much as we could and had a lot of fun in the process.”

Jo said her and her husband love the Tilba community and try and get involved wherever they can.

“My husband and I have two young kids, so we can’t do as much as we’d like, but we do love this community and we know this is a great festival to attend,” she said.

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Ms Gray said there would be dozens of stalls to visit at the festival including art and crafts stalls, clothing, jewellery makers, handmade ceramics, local kelp and seaweed products, local beauty and health products and 15 food stalls.

“We’ve definitely got more entertainment this year, we put a lot of effort in to make sure there’s loads of kid-focused entertainment and kids also have free entry,” she said.

“Our local performers just want the opportunity to get out there and start living their normal lives again, so it’s brilliant because we’ve got a full entertainment program.”

There will also be kids face painting, stilt walkers, magic shows, donut eating competitions, jewellery making, glitter tattoos, dress ups and a variety of traditional street games including cheese rolling, egg tossing and boot throwing.

The Tilba Festival will take place on Bate Street from 9 am – 4 pm to celebrate the village’s heritage, local produce and community talent.

To find out more and purchase tickets, go to Visit Tilba.