By LUKE VOOGT
ROUGHLY 6000 locals and tourists attended the 19th Tranquillity Fair last Saturday, which organisers have hailed as one of the most successful yet.
More than 4000 adults bought tickets and Ocean Grove Park Association (OGPA) president, Murray Waugh, estimated 6000 people in total, with children attending for free.
“That would have to be one of our highest attendances, if not our highest,” he said.
“Even up until 4pm we still had a lot of people around.”
Dark skies threatened to spoil events in the morning but the sun broke through just before midday, providing fair-goers with warm weather the rest of the day.
The Tranquillity Fair made use of the Ocean Grove Pavilion the first time this year, which Murray said made things run much more smoothly.
He said the pavilion served as a storage space for the OGPA and allowed an easier transition between different performers.
“It was fantastic – we didn’t have to hire a stage,” he said.
“There were more people watching the music than ever before.”
The crowd enjoyed a wide range of music from Ebony De Lima, Velvet Bow, The Tides of Welcome, Steve McEwan and the Yesmen, Three Kings and Fulton.
They also got involved in a drumming demonstration in the afternoon.
Murray said the fair’s 125 stalls had already been booked-out by last November.
“We even had people standing by if someone didn’t turn up,” he said.
“That’s a tribute to Barb and Phil Dix, who organise the stalls.”
Barb said this year’s new stalls included delicious Turkish food and very popular “potato spirals”.
With the amount of interest, she said she “could have had two fairs and filled them both.”
The OGPA also provided free stalls for the Queenscliff Rural Australians for Refugees, Children in Cambodia and the CFA.
Murray praised and thanked the fair’s 70 volunteers who manned the gates, and helped setup for four hours on Friday evening and at 5.30am Saturday.
