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Melbourne is known to be a city that won’t ever rest. This city has lots of things to offer its visitors whether you like sports, shopping, eating, or culture; Melbourne has everything for you. Yarra River offers an amazing opportunity to Melbournians every year to cheer, enjoy the festive vibe annually on the Labour Day weekend in March, in the form of the Moomba Festival. The celebration is probably the biggest free event in Australia and draws in 1,000,000 individuals every year. This major event has been organized since 1955.
In the year 2003, this event was renamed as ‘Melbourne Moomba Waterfest’. This carnivalesque festival is celebrated for about four days at the city’s center. It consists of a parade of floats, skateboarding, BMX competition, yoga, firework, dance performance and many more things. Even Moomba festival rides are quite famous and loved by the people.
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Moomba Melbourne – 2021
Due to the spread of Covid-19 all across the world, the Moomba festival was canceled by Melbourne City Council. It was canceled for the first time in the history of 66 years. The lord mayor of Melbourne, Sally Capp, took the difficult decision to cancel the festival by keeping in mind the safety measures of Covid 19.
Origin of Moomba Festival Melbourne
The Moomba word is Aboriginal, and it implies “let’s get together and have fun.” But this was not the actual fact because ‘mom’ implies ‘buttocks’ in various Victorian languages. In the year 1951, the Australian citizens were celebrating their fifty years of Federation. Also there was a theater production:” An Aboriginal Moomba: Out of the Dark”. Queen Elizabeth II visited the city as reigning monarch and a number of individuals joined the parade.
The City Development Association and the Melbourne City Council captured the potential of this event and put forward the idea of an autumn carnival that came to be known as “Moomba”. In the same year, a committee was organized to manage all the events. £10,000 was allocated in the beginning for successfully organizing the event. But unluckily, before the execution of the first year’s event, Labor Councilor Frank Williams walked out from the committee. Jack O’Hagan wrote the promotional song “Come to Melbourne for the Moomba”.
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Events Of Moomba Festival
Moomba Parade And Floats
This event is the key part of this carnivalesque festival from the start. Parades and floats along the streets of the city attract more than 100,000 people. You can also watch it on free-to-air television. Annually the theme of floats gets changed. It consists of stunning dancers, old style bikes, costumed riders, school and ethenic outfits and dressed groups. It reflects celebration with cultural diversity. The parade gets complete with the Moomba King and Queen float and starts near about 11 am.
Moomba Festival Fireworks
Moomba festival offers an explosion of joy with amazing fireworks. It is done on each night of the festival. Thus you can appreciate the glow of fireworks throughout the entire night of this event. The exploding collection of dazzling fireworks will push you to dance beneath its light. On every Moomba event evening between 9:30 pm to 9:45 pm, you can view the best fireworks. Birdman Rally
11 am to 1 pm timing is to experience spills, thrills with the Birdman Rally. It is another popular event of Moomba Waterfest Melbourne in which different Melburnians dressed in diverse costumes flap to fly. This event was stopped for several years due to E. coli contamination in the Yarra River.
With 6 years of a break, this got started in 2004. The contestants have to cross the four-meter long platform by attaching wings to their dress across the river. This game includes homemade gliders, man-made aircraft and hang gliders, and with the help of flying machines or their strength, the participants keep their feathers in the air.
Water Ski Competition
In 1959 this game was introduced to the Moomba event. It is also known as Moomba Masters Championship because the water sports athletes that take part in this competition are masters. You will get the opportunity to see live-action watersports. World-class athlete comes to compete in the Water Ski Competition. Competitors have to pass all three competitions, namely trick, slalom and jump. You will see astonishing jumps of water skiers and wakeboarders through the entire competition.
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Music and live bands
Different international musicians have made the day of the music lovers in this event. Previously ABBA, Neil Diamond, AC/DC, Tex Perkins, Daryl Braithwaite and several others have won everyone’s heart with their music. Also, several films are shown on large screens without any fee.
Carnival Activities
Enjoy the riverside carnival at Moomba Waterfest. Climbing, running, cycling, jumping etc., all can be done at the active place in Alexandra Gardens. Colorful carnival rides and spinning wheels all keep visitors engaged and excited.
Crowning of Moomba Monarchs
Another exciting event of this festival is the crowing of the Moomba Monarchs. The Monarchs are selected well before the celebration; however, the delegated service is organized on that weekend. King and Queen are the Melbourne born residents. They can be popular cricket stars and Bollywood entertainers.
The first pair of Moomba Monarchs were Paul Cronin and Elizabeth Egan, and the recent ones were Covid 19 Helpers. Check out the complete list of Moomba Monarchs are-
Outdoor Cinema
Moomba festival offers free movies on the large screen every evening at 6:30. By fixing your seat opposite to SouthBank on the soft grasses, you and your kids can enjoy the kid’s movie. The direction of the screen will be in the North Bank. You can carry some snacks and a blanket to cuddle and appreciate the movie with you. You will also be witnessing the spectacular view of sunset and sky from this place.
Travel Free To Moomba
Public transport is available for free to all individuals who are traveling to Moomba. This scheme is provided to encourage Victorians to make use of public transport so that traffic conditions can be avoided. All public transport such as V/Line services is available to travel into the CBD. You should check out more details on the PTV website instead of Myki.
Also if you are traveling to this family-friendly festival of Melbourne by car, then you can get there free car parking. Free parking starts from noon on the first day of the event to 11:59 pm on the last day of the event.
Time-bound for parking, limitations, clearways, no standing zones, and other restrictions apply and will be upheld with the goal that everybody has the chance to park their vehicle.
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Keep In Mind:
- This is an alcohol-free event, and if found then, penalties are applied.
- It is the responsibility of all patrons to keep the food areas, entertainment and venue smoke-free.
- If you require mobility equipment, you can get them from nearby hire services available at Flinders Street and Southern Cross Stations.
Read more about this event at; https://moomba.melbourne.vic.gov.au/.
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