The heart of Campbelltown – from Broughton Street to the art gallery and across to Bradbury Oval – was buzzing like one giant party through the entire weekend as the 2014 Fisher’s Ghost Festival hit its straps.
The festivities got under way on Friday night at the Campbelltown Arts Centre for the public announcement of the winners of the annual art prize.
Khaled Sabsabi was named open winner of the $20,000 prize with his work entitled Wonderland, a video representation of the Western Sydney Wanderers fans, the Red & Black Bloc in action during a game. Two flat television screens play over and over again the fans’ routines in urging their team on to greater heights.
On Saturday another brilliant parade weaved its way down Queen Street in the early afternoon, and as per the suggested Japanese flavor to honour the 30th anniversary of our town’s sister city agreement with the Japanese City of Koshigaya, whose civic leaders had arrived in time to take part in our annual celebrations.
Indeed they helped the mayor, Paul Lake cut the ribbon to signal the official start of the 2014 festival.
Chairman of Koshigaya City Office, Mr Toru Moriya,
2014 Campbelltown Citizen of the Year, Sandra McDonald,
2014 Young Citizen of the Year, Rebecca Hatch and Mayor of Campbelltown, Cr Paul Lake
The Mayor of Koshigaya City, Mr Tsutomo Takahashi, the Chairman of Koshigaya City Office, Mr Toru Moriya, the 2014 Campbelltown Citizen of the Year, Sandra McDonald and 2014 Young Citizen of the Year, Rebecca Hatch together did the opening hours with Cr Lake.
Looking on at the parade were an assortment of TV stars from The Block and Big Brother and of course large numbers of residents.
Many of the floats adopted the Japanese flavour sought by council, and also on show was a new look ghost.
The weekend also saw the staging of Fisher’s Gig on Saturday night at Bradbury Oval, where the carnival section of the festival is on for the two weekends.
On Sunday it was back to the art gallery for Fisher’s Kids, which proved very popular with local residents with families streaming in for the four hour event.
Other highlights of the weekend’s festivities included the naming of the winner of the open prize in the annual craft exhibition, a stunning convertible necklace and bracelet set made by Cheree Vermeulen.
The unveiling of a gift from Koshigaya City at Koshigaya Park was another highlight of one of the best festivals in a long time. And that was only the first weekend, with the Street Fair on next Saturday and the carnival resuming on Friday, and the second lot of fireworks on Saturday night.
“ Party time as Fisher’s Ghost festival hits the road http://t.co/uGCznWCCZ5 http://t.co/a5QKVYtuu2 will c u there Nov 8 10am