Pakington street will once again come alive with an abundance of colour, unique costumes, live music, street performers, multicultural food, and traditional dancing on Saturday, February 25.
An outdoor spectacular like no other, the original Pako Festa is back this weekend and will see the iconic street blocked off to traffic all day in celebration of Geelong’s diverse mix of cultures with people from all walks of life.
Finally returning home where it belongs – Pakington Street – an enormous street parade starts at 11am, featuring around 80 floats representing Geelong’s diverse cultural mix.
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around the region here.
After the parade, the street will become a huge alfresco dining strip with a myriad of traditional international foods on offer. The local West Park is dotted with food vans and marquees serving homemade food from local community groups and local retailers and cafes are also open, along with numerous pop-up market stalls, adding to the festive carnival atmosphere. You can peruse the street stalls from 9am to 5pm.
Here’s everything to see and do at Pako Festa 2023
Cultura West Park Stage
12.30pm Wathaurong Co-Operative
1.10pm Linas- Geelong Lithuanian Dance Group
1.25pm Fiji Geelong Friendship Club
1.40pm Folkwave Bhangra Geelong
1.55pm Filipino Australian Friendship Assoc. of Geelong
2.10pm Bendjo Academy of Serbian Dance & Culture
2.30pm Marion Stojanovski & The Medena Band
3.10pm Tose Australian Macedonian Dance Ensemble (Tose AMDE)
3.30pm Croatian Community HKUD LADO Geelong
3.50pm Mezei Virag Hungarian Dance Group Geelong
4.10pm KUD Mladi Biseri
4.30pm Punjabi Swag Geelong
Adroit Insurance & Risk Chill Out Zone (Hope Street)
12.30 pm Lady Valentine
1.30 pm Wild Gloriosa
2.30 pm National Celtic Folk Festival Showcase: Apolline
3.30 pm National Celtic Folk Festival Showcase: Tim Scanlan & Mano Okubo
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94.7 the Pulse Stage (outside the West Town Hall)
12.30pm Hazara Community of Geelong
12.50pm Andalucía Spanish Dancing Group Geelong
1.20pm Greek Community School of Geelong
1.45pm RUS’ Russian Dance Ensemble
2.00pm Serbian Orthodox Community
2.20pm Geelong Nepalese Association
2.40pm Asanti Beats
3.40pm Folk Group Bulgari
4.00pm Bay City Strings
4.40pm Mexbourne Dance Co
Family Entertainment Precinct – West Town Hall (interior)
12.30pm – 2.30pm Bop Till You Drop Dance & Karaoke Workshops
2.30pm – 4.30pm Circus Lab Interactive Workshops
The Gordon Stage (Albert Street)
12.30pm Serbian Parish Youth Club – Branko Radicevic
12.50pm Chinese Association of Geelong
1.10pm Bangladesh Community Geelong
1.30pm Geelong Nigerian Community
1.45pm Greater Geelong Nepalese Community
2.00pm Geelong Scottish Dance
2.20pm Sauzal Folkloric Dance Group
2.40pm Lehenda Ukrainian Dance Company
3.00pm Indonesian Association of Geelong
3.20pm Sikh Community of South Barwon
4.15pm The Natural Culture
Petrel Hotel Stage
12.30pm Andrea Robertson & Band
1.30pm Fenn Wilson
2.30pm Copycat Killers
3.30pm Copycat Killers
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Street Parade & Roving Performers
Street Performance From 9am Inka Marka
Street Parade from 11am Wild Honey Performing Arts
Street Parade from 11am Geelong Memorial Band
Street Parade from 11am Geelong RSL Pipe & Drums
Street Parade from 11am Geelong West Brass Band
Roving from 10am The Spirit Fire – Fun Arts
Roving within event precinct from 1pm Diversity Quiz Game – Kinetic Theatre Company
The Food
Pako Festa has always presented a unique once-a-year opportunity to sample unfamiliar cuisine from foreign lands, or to revisit popular international dishes, in this unique multi-cultural street party celebration that Geelong has enthusiastically embraced since 1983. In pop-up food vans and marquees across the length of Pakington Street Geelong West and at West Park, passionate volunteer local community groups will represent the culture and cuisine of their homelands with lovingly prepared authentic home-cooked food.
So in 2023, Pako Festa visitors can once again celebrate Geelong’s extraordinary cultural diversity and taste a vast array of delicious cuisine from far flung corners of the globe plus, they can also purchase a recipe book showcasing a collection of signature dishes you can prepare at home.
Be challenged by the Indonesian community and try to choose from either Chicken Satay, Nasi Goreng, Mie Goreng, Beef Rendang or curry puffs. The Filipino community will prepare the popular “Inihaw” (Pork skewers), this dish has been a highlight since the inaugural event in 1983 and continues to live up to its reputation.
Cevapi is a grilled dish of minced meat either lamb, veal, pork or beef, a type of kebab, found traditionally in the countries of south-eastern Europe. Pako Festa is the only event where you can sample a variety of Cevapi from our local Croatian, Macedonian, Bosnian and Serbian communities, each with their own special spice and unique style. If a traditional bush tucker BBQ is more your style visit the Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-Operative food stall, you cannot miss the sizzle and aromas of this floating through the street and don’t forget to try the selection of sweet treats using native ingredients.
Suitable for vegetarians, you cannot go past the Polish Stall offering Traditional Pierogi Dumplings or sample Ukrainian Varenyky Potato and Cheese Dumplings.
New to 2023 is the local Club Italia Geelong and the Fijian Communities returning to the event and introducing the Nigerian, Pakistani, Bangladesh and the Bantu Collective representing African nations serving up a traditional Southern African BBQ including Boerwors Hot Dogs.
Finally, if dessert is your weakness the French community will tempt you with a collection of packaged treats. The Polish, Russian, Bosnian, Croatian, Greek, Serbian and Macedonian food stalls also have a variety of sweets on offer. The event program map will highlight the locations of all community food stalls so there is no excuse to miss out on your entree, main, snack and dessert on the day!
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Pako Festa Communities
Geelong Bangladesh Society
Bantu Collective – African Influence
The Bosnian Lily Geelong
Chinese Association of Geelong Association Inc
Alliance Francaise de Geelong
Geelong Croatian Community HKUD Lado
Fiji Geelong Friendship Club
Filipino Social Club of Geelong Inc
Club Italia
Indonesian Association of Geelong
Japanese Association Geelong
Hellenic (Greek) Orthodox Community of Geelong
Macedonian Community of Geelong
Geelong Malayalee Association Inc
Nigerian Association of Geelong
Geelong Pakistani Community Geelong
Polish Community Association in Geelong
Russian Orthodox Community Geelong
Serbian Parish Youth Club
St Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Parish
Ukrainian Community Geelong
Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-op
Pako Festa Carpark Party
The annual Pako Festa Carpark party returns for the first time in three years
For more, head here.
