The inaugural Grand Autumn Festival will be a multicultural community spectacular, taking place across the weekend of May 27-28 at Robelle Domain Parklands.
Event activities run from 9am to around 7pm, both days. Entry is free.
Formerly known as the Philippines-Australia Autumn Festival, the fun-filled celebration this year features live music and cultural performances, international food stalls, the first ever ‘theatre in the park’, and a fireworks display.
Balloons, costumes, and unique community displays will be everywhere – as well as cute and cuddly animals from 3 Ponies Petting Farm.
Dance performers including Bloodline, Eighty8, Zumbabella, belly-dancing, and line-dancing.
Music performers include DJ Matty Jaye, rapper Luke Urbano, folk band The Daring, and Garahe Band, as well as rock bands Alagad ni Duma, Flipside, and Kayumanggi.
Springfield siblings Jozef Borja Erece and Maynah Erece – along with their family members and the Jimenea and Medequiso families – are the event organisers.
“We created the concept for the Grand Autumn Festival in Springfield, 2023, as an evolution from its original inception as the Philippines-Australia Autumn Festival,” Jozef said.
“This evolution represents the ongoing progress in our local communities and the world at large. The vision is an annual national destination event represented by the diverse stories, backgrounds, and journeys that have brought us here and made us who we are.
“We hope to continue its growth every year, where all communities are brought together as one family, in celebration of cultural arts, music, dance, and cuisine.”
Maynah is organising the event’s hundreds of volunteers, while also managing production on her original hour-long musical “One World”.
“The production combines music, song, dance, poetry, and visual images to give the audience a real theatre feel.”
Recognising their prodigious accomplishments, the two young Filipino-Australians have been selected as finalists in the Awards Australia 7NEWS Young Achiever Awards, which will be officially presented on May 19, 2023.
Caption: Spectacular displays from last year’s autumn festival. All images: Maynah Erece.
