Windswept but worth it!

DCSCA's new marquee had its first outing on Saturday 9 January at the annual Mussel Festival in Portarlington.

Janet Jenkin, Diane Schofield and Rick Paradise

The association was one of several organisations with connections to the local coastline that formed a display near the entrance to the Portarlington pier.

The display was coordinated by Bellarine Bayside, which hopes that the display will become a regular feature of the Mussel Festival.

Overall, the weather was quite benign, but occasional strong gusts of wind coming off the bay had stall-holders frantically retrieving the leaflets, brochures and flyers that they had laid out carefully and artistically! One marquee nearly ended up in the bay, but the DCSCA marquee acquitted itself well and at the last count, none of the volunteers from the DCSCA and Festival of Glass committees was missing!

Making ourselves known
The display formed an adjunct to the Mussel Festival proper and a steady stream of people walked past it or through it on their way to the Festival. The volunteers at the DCSCA tent promoted two new features of the Festival of Glass - the glass art Treasure Hunt, which starts on February 1st and finishes at the Festival Expo on Sunday 21 February; and the glass art Masterclass at Leura Park on February 19. There was a lot of interest, with people taking leaflets faster than the wind!

(For more information on the glass art Treasure Hunt  and the glass art Masterclass, see the Festival of Glass web site: www.festivalofglass.net.au)