The Antipodes Festival continued to draw the crowds on Sunday with mild weather for the carnival atmosphere.
Lonsdale Street became the central hub of all things Greek for the second day in a row, with over 80 hours of entertainment and over 80 stalls to gather your attention.
As the festival gets older, so do previous generations of Greek Australians, and as the fourth generation of Greek Australians enter the fray, the focus has shifted to them.
This year, the festival has a youthful vibe to it, perhaps more than usual.
While Antipodes has always been a family event, 2023 sees even more family aura to it.
Across all three event stages, the Bendigo Bank Stage, the AA Holdings Stage and the #LoveLonsdale Stage, many performances gathered large crowds.
From dance groups to musical acts and cooking demonstrations, all had a youthful vibe.
There were intermediate dance groups like the Cretan Brotherhood of Melbourne, full of young Greek girls proudly dancing for their heritage.
Bands and music acts from St John’s College and much more.
Even the cooking demonstrations became a family affair, with one cook seeing his baby child in the crowd, to a warm fuzzy feeling from those in attendance.
Across the many stalls, were many familiar tenants such as the food vendors, Greek soccer clubs and small businesses.
For one long running Greek stalwart in Melbourne, the Panarcadian Association ‘O Kolokotronis’, this is only their second time at Antipodes, despite being around since 1959.
John Dimitropoulos of the association says there is a big opportunity for them at the festival to connect with their members and the community as a whole.
Selling books of Greek myths and legends, written particularly for children, they have seen significant interest according to Mr Dimitropoulos..
“It’s been really well received by the Greeks and non-Greeks, particularly the young kids,” Mr Dimitropoulos said.
Heading into the fourth generation, the focus of the association in attending the festival aims to bring in new members.
“So we’re into our fourth generation now, so we are looking to make sure to bring the third generation into the organisation and then they can pass on that into the fourth generation. So that’s our challenge,” he said.
With many young Greek Aussies running around, education is on the horizon or already here for some.
Many schools could be seen around the festival and Greek educational resources too. One of these was Clever Little Koalas.
Stacey, the founder and an English and Greek teacher, is also bringing her business to the festival for just the second time.
The festival has been fantastic for her young business.
“I came last year to the festival and had so much fun that I needed to come again,” she said.
“It’s been really good, because we are an online business, I don’t get to meet a lot of customers… so meeting customers and people and students, and getting to know other stall holders has been really good as well.”
She says the festival has been amazing as always, and has had interest from non-Greek parents too, some who are married to a Greek.
While this is her second time at the festival with a stall, she isn’t a stranger, having been attending since she was young, and even performed as part of dance groups back in the day.
So with the festival approaching its 40s in half a decade, and some generations along with it, a new generation approaches, already making their mark on the Antipodes Festival or dipping their toes in for the first time.
