Arts Directory Profile

Pako Festa

Pako Festa

Pako Festa is the largest free celebration of cultural diversity in Australia! Every year, since 1983, it attracts scores of people from our local and cultural communities, professional performers, community groups, schools, businesses, street traders and artists from all walks of life.

Coming together in harmony, up to 100,000 people meet to enjoy a smorgasbord of cultural food, folk dancing, the famous Pako Parade, workshops, art exhibitions, films, craft displays, free activities for children and an amazing day of non-stop entertainment.

Pako Festa prides itself as being a free event, accessible to all who want to share the enriching experience of multiculturalism. All you need to bring for a great day out is a happy heart and an open mind.

The pulse of Pako Festa begins with the shiver of maracas and the flutter of a rhumba - and we welcome our leading lady Carmen Miranda! From the moment she appears, a tantalizing tempo starts to infect the street. It's in Drum Out, with its hundreds of drummers setting the pace for the great Pako Festa Parade. It's in the clatter of the clog dancers, the blast of the bagpipes and the pure power of the African percussion. You can hear it in the beat of the Japanese Taiko and the ancient drumming of the Indian Dohl. It's all around you, it's everywhere, you can't avoid it's rhyme or rhythm. It's the sound of the heart of our fabulous Festa, it's 'The Beat of Pako'.

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