All things youth at festival

The event was an opportunity for young people to connect with services and programs in the region, all under one roof at the Echuca basketball stadium.

Not only did students engage with the Youth Fest through games, activities and conversations, but they helped co-ordinate the day.

A committee of young people met regularly once a fortnight to plan this year’s event.

Among them were Moama Anglican Grammar Year 8 student Keisha Hall and Year 10 St Joseph’s College student Azahlia Palmer.

“We've had meetings to organise a safe, welcoming space for the youth in Echuca-Moama and surrounding areas,” Keisha said.

“We’ve just got to make sure everyone else has fun and everything runs smoothly,” Azahlia said.

“We had one-hour meetings every two weeks to organise who we wanted to be here, what stalls were going to happen, things we noticed last year that didn’t work very well and what we can do to improve that.”

The pair has enjoyed being involved in the committee, particularly embracing its new friendships.

Photo booths, face painting, AFL drills, wildlife discovery and archery were among the activities organised for the day.

“We have met people from around the area and not just from close areas, but surrounding as well, like Rochester,” Keisha said.

“In the meetings, we all just listed ideas that we thought would be fun for youths and everyone would enjoy.”

Among stallholders were Campaspe Shire Council services like the library, recovery team and aquatics, Echuca Regional Health, BendigoTAFE, Strathallan Family Landcare, emergency services, Girls on the Rize, Headspace, CVGT Employment, Echuca Federal Band, Njernda and Boys to the Bush.

Students from Echuca College soundtracked the day with live music, even encouraging other attendees to join in some karaoke.

The organising committee members were happy with the feedback they received from fellow students.

“Everyone has come forward and said that they really enjoyed it,” Keisha said.