Multicultural stars shine bright

Organisers of the eighth annual Multicultural Night Under the Stars believe they had their biggest crowd on record as Bunbury residents flocked to the event.

The Bunbury Multicultural Group organised the event held at the Graham Bricknell Memorial Music Shell on Saturday night, which featured performers and food stalls representing a diverse range of ethnic backgrounds.

Organiser Shamara Williams said there were people from a minimum of 30 different cultural groups at this year’s event.

“The feedback has been excellent, ” she said.

“I have had people come up to me all night and say it was the best event.”

The crowd will almost certainly beat last year’s attendance of 3000 people though Ms Williams said they would use video footage to get an accurate figure.

For the first time the organisers have hired an events survey company to get real-time statistics to help with future grant applications.

“We want to prove to these funding groups that this is an event worth supporting, ” Ms Williams said.

“We can’t do that without hardcore stats.”

Palestinian migrant Aseel Tayah was one of the MCs for the event and also sang a traditional song in Arabic.

She was one of the performers which showed off the talents of different ethnic groups from across Bunbury.

Maori dancers Te Kuraroa Kapahaka were judged best performance and won $1000.

The competition was sponsored by the Aqua Spectacular and Rotary Bunbury Leschenault.