Bankstown Children’s Festival 2008

September 26th, 2008Australian, Outings

It may be flippant to some, but the Bankstown Children’s Festival would have to be one of the most memorable yearly festivals for me here in Sydney. This year, on the tenth anniversary of the festival, the day was ineluctably hot (a scorching 30 degrees on the eve of spring) and the teeny boppers were plentiful. By the way, I don’t recall there even being teeny boppers in the early days. Or maybe my memories as a puny 9-year-old wearing an ao dai have somewhat waned.

Back when I attended language school at Canley Vale, I was actively involved in the festival. I recall taking part in a Luong Son Ba performance; it was on one singeing day in the VHVN (Vietnamese Cultural Schools Association Inc.) tent in front of eager parents.

Main stageI find it humourous how the mayor of Bankstown claims her municipality has over a certain number of “nationalities“. (Dreams of becoming Secretary-General of the United Nations, much?)Dragon dancingMen in skirtsVHVNZoomobile
Although I prefer the Cabramatta Moon Festival more (for it is more family-orientated), I went to the Bankstown Children’s Festival as the Moon Festival of two weeks earlier had rained out.




13 Responses
  1. September 27th, 2008
    TEACUP.

    I don’t remember there being teeny boppers or whipped cream when I was younger either. Or maybe I was too young to notice. But seriously, where DID they come from? Someone send them back to their home planet, please.

  2. September 27th, 2008
    iluvbarney

    Ah yes, the days of Vietnamese school in which you were the only one enthusiastic about Vietnamese.

  3. September 29th, 2008
    CHRISTINA

    I’ve never been to the Children’s Festival before the teeny bopper years - I first went during year 7 and that was when tradition started. Except this year, I only got to see fireworks and seriously, they were good - a lot better than Moon’s and last years.

    Were you one of those cute girls dancing with ao dai? I always wanted to join the scouts and wear that ridiculous uniform and march, scouts sounded pretty fun. I’m pretty sure there were typical asians back then - they just had a different image - black or white flair pants with a boobtube, anybody? Long sleek straight split down the middle hair with blonde streaks - that was way trendy back then ;)

  4. September 29th, 2008
    Jen

    I don’t recall any of my Viet friends going to these events, even the ones who live in the area, hrmm. But then we’ve never been really into festivals in Australia beyond what occurs within the family home!

    But wow. 300 nationalities. That’s quite extreme!

  5. September 29th, 2008
    Marie

    Hello!

    Ahaha, yeah.
    I’m in Year 12 at the moment. (:

  6. September 29th, 2008
    Elora Mariel

    Thank you so much! :D I believed I improved too but really THANK YOU! :D

    **

    That festival looks really interesting. There’s nothing like that here… or maybe I’m not that active in the “outside world”? haha. but 300 nationalities? um.. isn’t that a bit too… much?

  7. September 30th, 2008
    Shen

    Aww, I’m always disappointed when I know I could have gotten a higher grade by just one or two marks. I’m glad to hear this event was a memorable one for you. =) Ah, the weather here is the same. Right now it’s 34 degrees Celsius.

  8. October 1st, 2008
    jessica

    theres never much to do at these festivals

    i went for 5 minutes to the children’s fest and i left.

  9. October 3rd, 2008
    Leximon

    Man I feel like I’ve been missing out on something!! I’ve never been to the annual Children’s Fest, even though I’ve heard about it from my friends, and I’ve only been to Moon Fest Once….

    I think I should embrace my inner asian ROFL :):)
    It looks like fun :)

  10. October 4th, 2008
    Andra

    Hi there! Of course I consider Australia a pretty country. I’ve always wanted to visit it. Maybe because it’s on the other side of the earth, I don’t know. :)

  11. October 9th, 2008
    Jesse

    Oh my goodness you’re from Australia too? And look, you’re from Sydney at Bankstown! I live near there! :-O And you like phone straps? Me too! :-0 I wonder what this mean… please contact me!

  12. October 18th, 2008
    Louise

    You don’t update and you say that I need to update xD
    Omgsh, update woman (:

  13. October 24th, 2008
    Yan-yang

    Hey! long time no see. =.=

    nice site :) It’s very neat. I wish I had the time and mental capacity to maintain a blog let alone a site..
    too much effing. school work. T_T

    I haven’t seen anyone since… since… well, a very long time ago. I do occasionally see some familiar face whenever I walk home by our old school. In my head would be like, -insert name of someone that was from our year-, I know them! But I would never say hello because I think they wont remember me.

    anyway enough chatter :( I need to study for HSC IPT.. you do something similar to this yeah?
    It seems all you ever hear from me is “I need to study”
    Je vous jure! I’m not that boring xD


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