THE Blessing of the Fleet Festival has played an important role in the lives of many people.
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People who have lived and grown up in Ulladulla and greater Shoalhaven area always look forward to the festival and this year is no exception.
Well-known resident Michelle Babington is a passionate festival supporter and she is looking forward to this Sunday's, [March 31] event.
"I love it [the festival] because for me it has been one of the biggest parts of my life growing up. It was the one thing every year I looked forward to happening. I am so excited every year," she said.
"It [the festival] brings the community together and brings so many different areas of the community together from young and old, businesses, tourists and locals alike. I just love it."
Celebrations start at 9am with the Fishermens' Procession, followed by the Welcome to Country at 9.15am, an Easter Mass at 9.30 and the Blessing of the Fleet at 10.45am.
Here are some of the things people can do and see at the festival.
- Easter hat parade 11.30am on the stage at the Ulladulla Harbour. Bring the children to have some fun and enjoy the Easter egg giveaway.
- The iconic greasy pole contest is back at a new location near the Ulladulla saltwater pool area. The popular tug-of-war contest will also be on the beach near the pool. Thanks goes to the Apex Club of Milton Ulladulla for running the event every year.
- Mr Boom Boom Fireworks will be lighting up the sky on Easter Sunday at 8pm as part of the grand finale to the Blessing of The Fleet Festival.
- There will be heaps of free entertainment and live music. The music line-up is Three Hours South at 12pm, Elton Joel at 1pm and SoulTonic at 4pm . All on centre stage down at the Ulladulla Harbour Precinct.
- If you want a good laugh or more come down to the Ulladulla Blessing of the Fleet Festival's harbour precinct centre stage at 2pm when international comedy superstar Joe Avati performs.
Volunteers are also needed on the day for various roles - head to https://www.facebook.com/ulladullablessingofthefleet on Facebook to see more about the festival and find out what volunteer roles are needed.
The Ulladulla Blessing of the Fleet Festival offers a vibrant day filled with excitement, joy and culture.
Meanwhile, there was a chance at one stage that there would be no festival which would have been devastating for the likes of Michelle and many others in the region.
With the future of the festival in doubt, Maria Lavalle came along to become the event's coordinator and Michelle joined the committee.
She took on the secretary's role to support Maria and to help keep the event going.
"I am really happy to be working with Maria because she has that connection with the Italian fishing community," she said.
"The festival is part of my heritage and history as well and I want to make sure it continues," the well-respected resident said.
She used to watch the parade every year as a child and when she was 19 years of age started to help organise the Blessing of the Fleet ball.
She said Sunday's event would be a great one - even though there won't be a parade of floats.
"It's disappointing for all of us that we are not able to have a float parade and unfortunately there are a lot of people with negativity around that but I think they are not looking at the big picture," Michelle said.
"At one stage we might have had no parade, no festival - nothing of any kind," she wanted to remind people.
She said the committee was working hard to bring the festival "back to its full extent" with a float parade in future years.
The committee is "doing a massive amount of fundraising" to bring back to parade as soon as they can.
Michelle said the committee's Taste of the Sea fundraiser was a great success and the committee is looking at running a fundraising event in the middle of this year.
