Tamworth's Fiesta La Peel caps off 10 years with biggest party yet

Tamworth Regional Council events officer Crystal Vero said the 10^th anniversary of the food and culture festival attracted a record-breaking number of attendees to Tamworth's Bicentennial Park.

"We could definitely see it was the largest attendance in Bicentennial Park since Fiesta La Peel was moved there," she said.

While the official count is yet to come in, the events officer said the festival kept growing every year as more people from Tamworth's 96 different nationalities got involved, facilitated by local not-for-profit Multicultural Tamworth.

"We had about 60 stalls and last year was in the 40s so it's definitely growing. Sometimes I wish I could expand the park somehow to make it even bigger," Ms Vero said.

"It was also pleasing to see the increase in participation of different cultures this year. We could see that through the stalls and the stage performances, but also people coming out to the event. There was such a diverse range of cultures and community coming together at the event."

The only downside to the evening was a total fire ban prohibiting fireworks, which were planned to light up the sky over the multicultural festival for the first time.

Ms Vero said despite the cancellation, there were many other firsts at this year's Fiesta La Peel, which was expanded from a weekend party to a week-long celebration in honour of reaching its 10^th anniversary.

"The new addition of the fashion parade was really well received so we'll definitely look to expand on that next year," she said.

The next Fiesta La Peel is already locked in for October 19, 2024, but it's unclear whether the festival will make its week-long program a new tradition or return to being a one-weekend-only event.

Tamworth Regional Council and Multicultural Tamworth will host a debrief this week and a community survey will be sent out soon after, both of which will shape the future of Fiesta La Peel.

"From the Bollywood night to the Latin party, everything on the program was really well received so we'll take that on board with the survey results and Tamworth Regional Council will work with Multicultural Tamworth on what comes next," Ms Vero said.

"We'll see what we can do to keep things moving forward and evolving."

The events officer also said council might roll out the unused fireworks at a different community event in the near future, weather permitting.

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Fiesta La Peel organisers said they're happy to see the event continue to be a safe, family-friendly affair even as it continues growing, with security and police at last night's celebration reporting no incidents of anti-social behaviour.

Ms Vero said the stage program, with its multicultural musical performances and dance demonstrations, was a key centrepiece of the evening's success in bringing people together.

"The program was full right from the beginning. We started the stage entertainment at 3pm and it went right through past 8 o'clock," she said.

"If people weren't up dancing at the stage they were dancing in their seats."

While the festival continues to grow, the events officer said it was important to remember what the festival means to Tamworth's multicultural community, and the benefits it brought to our region by integrating people from across the globe and making them feel welcome in regional Australia.

"The goal of Fiesta La Peel is to bring connection and learn from other cultures to enrich the lives in our Tamworth region and we really do feel that was achieved," Ms Vero said.

"It's more than just an event for a lot of people. There'll be people who have connected with others at this event and from that friendships form. It does so much for our multicultural community in bringing all those connections together."

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