By Callum Ludwig
Warburton Environment’s Tall Trees Festival is set for its first in-person event on Friday 21 October since it was established in 2020.
Held online, musicians, artists, scientists and speakers are set to unite at the Yarra Valley ECOSS site to celebrate music and the beauty of our forests.
President of Warburton Environment Nic Fox said the initiative began to fundraise for Warburton Environment’s Supreme Court case against VicForests.
“Our aim is to protect the tall trees of the Central Highlands, the mountain ash forests, which are a critically endangered ecosystem. The Tall Trees Festival was a great opportunity to raise funds and create some engagement with the community,” she said.
“It was meant to be a live festival, but Covid hit us and we went online. After having no idea what we were doing the first time, the second was incredibly successful. We still have some expenses coming up from the trial, so we are still needing to raise some funds.”
The festival will run alongside the regular Valley Market from 4pm to 10pm with a number of food vans and stalls.
Ms Fox said more than anything, they are really looking forward to having a live event this year, getting all the community together and having a good dance and a lot of fun.
“We are so excited, it can’t come quick enough. It will be good before the State Election for showing what Warburton Environment stand for too. The event has been a community mobilisation over the last couple of years,” she said.
“Bringing people together during Covid was also really beneficial. We were all going through some pretty hard times, so to have some music coming through to them at home, people were very grateful for that. It’s been a wonderful experience in many ways.”
The lineup is headlined by ARIA Award-winning Melbourne Ska Orchestra musician and singer-songwriter Nicki Bomba, who was also the former drummer and percussionist of John Butler Trio.
He is being joined by South Australian folk artist Loren Kate, 2020 Archie Roach Foundation Award winner Kee’Ahn, local Warburton exotic grunge band Sooty Owls and more. Dreaming Space will also be providing children’s entertainment.
Aunty Kim Wandin will conduct the Welcome to Country for the donation-entry event.
