Riverlights festival offers a taste of world food and culture

For more than 10 years, Maitland's Riverlights has brought big crowds to The Levee to celebrate their diverse community. This year over 30 cultures are represented. Riverlights started on Tuesday and Saturday is the biggest and last day of the festival. It starts at 12pm and wraps up at 9.

Originally from Indonesia, Elliot, now of Gillieston Heights, has been living in the Hunter for 12 years.

"For me especially, it's about sharing the traditions and learning about all different multicultural [groups]. When you live far away from your homeland, it's something that I always look forward to. I have two girls myself, and I try to always let them know that 'yes you are Australian, but you also have some heritage from Indonesia' and to be proud of ourselves," she says.

Elliot has been working alongside firedancer Wolf Ifritah to create two performances at Riverlights, including Saturday's finale from 8pm.

Art and design studio Esem Projects is working with the community to deliver an enormous portion of the finale.

Wolf Ifritah's dance group will finish the night.

It's worth sticking around for.

Ifritah runs a fire dancing company and has been heavily involved with the Riverlights Festival over the years. This year they have six fire dancers. Ifritah loves working with Elliot as she brings a decade of experience from her time in Bali where she performed massive fire shows.

"We've got a classic piece of music that is simultaneously ancient and modern; I'm really happy with the music selection. The end piece is what we call 'moar fire'. That's our specialty," Ifritah says.

During Riverlights, Ifritah and Elliot have been teaching poi classes at Maitland Regional Art Gallery (poi is a weight on a cord, and poi spinning is the act of spinning that weight in circles around your body.)

Elliot will be roving in a Hanuman outfit, representing the Hindu monkey god of wisdom, strength and courage.

Also at Riverlights will be Te Ukaipo Maori Club Newcastle. Member Shvon Coster said their dance group is based in Lake Macquarie, but their members come from as far as Singleton and the Central Coast.

"Some of us were born and raised in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and others born and raised here in Australia. We feel blessed to be able to share our culture," she says.

Maitland City Council events organiser Beth Anastasiou has been working on the Riverlights Festival for six months. The event has not been held since 2019, due to the pandemic and last year because of the Maitland floods.

"This year is super important because we have funding from Multicultural NSW and Destination NSW to extend the program and make it more exciting and larger than it has been in the past," Anastasiou says.

Riverlights has a language lounge, cooking demos, multiple stages, a fashion parade, Indian dance workshops, henna tattoos, drumming and much more. Culinary maelstrom and media personality Adam Liaw will be making appearances.

Bands include Flamenco duo Paco Lara, Pat Brady Trio, Big Jarda, Caribbean Soul, Azadoota, Gambirra Mob and The Bamboos.

There are food stalls, including local vendors like Lulu's Gelato Company, Gnocked Up, BEllAmica and Elevated Kitchen.

"We've got Mixed Mobs Indigenous dance group and an inclusive dance school called Chance2Dance. We're trying to make this as accessible and welcoming for all ages, backgrounds and abilities. To me it's not just about multiculturalism, it's diversity in general," Anastasiou says.

Lantern making, noon - 7pm.

Culture Villages - food, art and craft, noon - 9pm

World Stage noon - 7.15pm

Language Lounge - Stories, songs, language, across several languages noon-7.30pm

Riverlights Eatery Dransfield Lane and Bulwer Street, noon-9pm

Dance workshops 1.30pm Indian jungle dance for kids; 2.30pm, Tamil drum and dance 3.30pm, hip hopping

Riverlights stage noon to 8.30pm with 5.45pm The Gambirra Mob, 6.40pm Ifritah Fire Theatre 7pm The Bamboos, 7.15pm Cultural Bloom, 8pm Procession and flotilla 8.15pm Ifritah Fire Theatre

Finale 8.15pm - 8.45pm