The Sri Lankan community celebrates Sri Lanka Day 2024 food and multicultural festival

An estimated number of around 4000 visitors attended the Sri Lanka Day 2024 – Food and Multicultural Festival held on Sunday, 15 September 2024 at Rocks Riverside Park, Seventeen Mile Rocks. The event that was held for the fourth year, was attended by several prominent VIPs from all levels of Government, namely, Hon Milton Dick, Speaker of the Federal Parliament; Hon Leeanne Enoch, MP and Minister for Treaty, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, Minister for Communities and Minister for the Arts; David Crisafulli, Leader of the Opposition, Senator Paul Scarr, Ms Jess Pugh, MP representing the Minister of Multicultural Affairs; James Martin, State MP for Stretten, City Councillor Sarah Hutton representing the Lord Mayor and City Councillors Charls Strunk, Emily Kim and Mr Anton Swan, Patron, FSOQ and former Hon Consul for Sri Lanka in Queensland.

Sri Lanka Day 2024 was organised by the Federation of Sri Lankan Organisations of Queensland (FSOQ) and its eight (8) member associations, showcases the cultural heritage and culinary tastes of Sri Lanka with Brisbane’s wider multicultural community. The social media campaign launched by the Federation targeted ‘culturally inspired food lovers’ in Brisbane and the visitors had the opportunity to taste and appreciate authentic Sri Lankan food at eighteen (18) food stalls selling a variety of Sri Lankan food.

The multicultural performances stage had traditional Sri Lankan dances showcasing different regional traditions, a fashion show and a bridal show showcasing brides from three different ethnic communities in Sri Lanka. This year, the ethnic groups who performed at the stage included performances from Portuguese, Indian (Gujarati, Panjabi Folk Dance, Bollywood, Bharath Natyam). In addition, the festival featured 22 small business stalls selling and promoting Sri Lankan handicraft and clothing.

The event had its humble beginning as an indoor food festival in 2019 and progressing to a full day, large scale out-door event in2020. The festival is considered an important event in Queensland’s multi-cultural calendar of events because of its notable societal impact in Southeast Queensland. It is supported by Department of Multicultural Affairs, Brisbane City Council and our corporate partners/ sponsors.

A notable feature of the event was recognizing and felicitating three community leaders who had delivered an exemplary service to the Sri Lanka community over several decades. The awards recipients this year were late Dharme Ratnayake, late Lal Mendis and Mrs Kanthi Wijesoma.

Dr Jay Weerawardena, President of FSOQ said, we are truly humbled by the fast growth of the Sri Lanka Day event which brings together all voluntary Sri Lankan associations to showcase our cultural heritage. It is also a platform to achieve our long-term vision of being a key contributor to enrich the multicultural diversity in Queensland.

FSOQ Secretary Jayantha Weerasekera stated, ‘We are now an accredited charity by ACNC with a much broader agenda of programs to deliver greater value to the community. The Sri Lanka Day event not only provides opportunity for FSOQ member organizations to raise much needed funds for their planned programs but also provide youth training for managing large community projects.’