Fish Creek Tea Cosy Festival - Corner Inlet

The Fish Creek Tea Cosy Festival was a series of events held over nine days to promote Fish Creek as a vibrant, creative and hospitable community.

The Festival aimed to, among other things:

• Strengthen existing partnerships and develop new ones.
• Create connections between locals, tourists and the art and craft community.
• Bring visitors into South Gippsland outside of the traditional tourist season and boost business activity, which was particularly important after the pandemic.
• Provide a forum to showcase the diverse talents of the South Gippsland community.
• Provide a funding source for Fish Creek community projects and future festivals.

During this year’s festival, over 174 entries into the tea cosy competition were received from across Australia and overseas. There was also an attempt for the biggest tea cosy, which really drew people in. You could say that they felt weaved into the story of the cosy.

Hosting COVID safe events was challenging for many, and this was not lost on the organisers of the Tea Cosy Festival.

Across the nine days, approximately 5,200 people were in attendance, with the tea cosy exhibition being a particular favourite.

Over $4,500 of the money raised was given to the Fish Creek Community Development Group to put towards bike repair and water stations near the Great Southern Rail Trail, upgrading town welcome signs, upgrading recreational facilities in the tennis court precinct in the CBD. There was also a number of other funds raised for the South Gippsland Hospital Auxiliary, Fish Creek and Foster Community Gardens, Fish Creek Primary School, Bowling Club, Union Church, Scouts and Rotary Clubs.

The Festival also attracted the interest of a number of publications, including ABC who broadcast the event far and wide across Australia.

The Festival provided a much needed boost of morale for the local community, tea cosy crafters, local businesses and the festival committee and volunteers.