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Tuesday, 17 March 2015

Geelong Diversitat Pako festival 2015



Pako festival is held every year in March. I've been attending now for almost 15 years in the capacity of "Band manager" . It's the grass roots Multicultural festival that makes everyone a participant . Over 150 different nationalities take part in this event, and  Inka Marka    have been proudly representing the Latin American community in Geelong at this festival over this time.

Each year we head on down to Geelong , a satellite city of Melbourne located about an hours drive away, located also on Port Phillip Bay.We all leave home at the crack of dawn to set up our staging area with all of the market and stall holders.
As well as being a day to experience a multitude of colour and costumes, it is also a day to experience music and dance of  many nations. 
Food stalls line the Main Street, with just about everything you could imagine as edible available. To our right is located the Polish "White eagle club". I am from Polish decent so the familiar and comforting smells of Bigos & Pirogi are tempting me to head over and make a start at will turn into a food feast that day.

The day starts well and as always it's a bright sunny day, with the sun burning down to redden the faces of those of us who have forgotten to apply sunscreen, ( yet again ! ) By mid morning I will have to make a quick trip to the pharmacy to purchase factor 30, so that I am not completely fried to a crisp.
Jose and Michel just slowly toast to a pale caramel color, much to Karen's and my distress.

This year Karen has come along to help out. Full time friend and partime band member, she has been performing with the band for almost a year now . The guys are always happy to have her along, as she is a happy go lucky person, with some amazing talent on the violin.


The Inka's played throughout the day, starting off with an early set before the parade. A crowd soon gathered, and there were a couple doing a slow dance to the romantic tune Besame much which they had requested the guys to play.As the day wore on, and warmed up-, the guys went from a warm Poncho to a cooler vest, but still keeping the Ethnic Inka Tradition going strong with their costumes. 


As the day wore on, the weather improved and the mood of the festival was light and fun. Many people stopped by to say hello, and let the guys how much they enjoyed the music.
Our favorite was the mexican dance group, who I was lucky enough to catch a few photos of.













1 comment:

  1. Always a joy to play along to the tunes of Inka Marka!! Music of the Andes...music to light up the soul!!

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