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Dragon’s appearance fires up Traralgon crowd

Last Saturday’s Chinese dragon procession in Traralgon proved a huge success, with early morning shoppers and bystanders stopping to take in the colourful and exciting display.

By City of Latrobe - 18th March 2005 - Back to News

Presented by Latrobe City Council in partnership with Stockland Traralgon, the dragon was part of a spectacular inaugural Latrobe City Chinese Festival.

Latrobe City Mayor, Councillor Bruce Lougheed, said the 2005 festival celebrated the fifth anniversary of the signing of Council’s sister-city agreement with the City of Taizhou, China.

"The festival showed a spectacle of performances by a full entourage from Bendigo’s Golden Dragon Museum, including lions, drummers and dancers.

"Children also participated in a variety of Chinese activities including face painting, puppet making and tai-chi workshops," Cr Lougheed explained.

"People obviously enjoyed the experience on Saturday morning, being able to experience some of the fabulous Chinese cultural elements that have become so recognisable throughout the world," Cr Lougheed said.

Latrobe City’s International Relations Manager, Leo Billington, said that in particular, the dragon procession proved a real show-stopper as it moved through the morning market in the Kay Street gardens.

"Weaving and dancing in and out, around stalls, literally enthralling and playing with the crowd, it made its way to the Stockland Traralgon Plaza," Mr Billington explained.

"It was in the enclosed shopping centre where the drumming really augmented the dragon’s arrival. With superb acoustics, and more large crowds, the dragon, as it was led by the lions, really showed off. Once on show to a captive audience, it really strutted its stuff!

"Combining the children’s activities and a dragon performance proved an ideal combination, especially on a Saturday morning. With ideal weather, an extremely receptive audience, and naturally a dragon who wanted to show off, the audience were really fired up," Mr Billington said.

Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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