Day 1 of the Festival kicked off in the late afternoon in the Church Grounds with a warm and generous Welcome to Country from Bunurong elder Josh West and a Welcome Party soiree with local band Jalgany providing the tunes as we meet, greet and ready ourselves for the Fringey treats ahead over the next few days.

From the Church grounds it’s off to the breathtaking private property in Boyds Road on the outskirts of Flinders for the first of four performances of the Sea Wolves Howl. Commissioned for Flinders Fringe by Claire Thorn, this extraordinary theatrical production is based on the stories of a group of women and non-binary people who bonded over cold- water swimming during COVID and discovered the power of the pack as they literally howled their troubles, and their triumphs, to the sky. Written by local theatre practitioners Carole Patullo and Jane Bayly, with original music and score composed by John Thorn, and directed by Yoni Prior, Sea Wolves Howl became a guiding theme for Fringe 2024 and also inspired the Portrait of a Sea Wolf Outdoor Exhibition in the Village Common in Cook Street, by local documentary photographer Noa Smith Fletcher, who also doubles as the co-founder of the actual Sea Wolves swimming group and the inspiration for the central character, Lux (Emma Jevons) in the Sea Wolves Howl.

As a full moon rose over Flinders, the Sea Wolves are ready to howl. And the fancy-shed-turned-performance space comes alive as the five main characters – Lux (Emma Jevons), Patch (Kelly Nash), Marina (Carmelina), Jilly (Jane Bayly) and Aubrey (Carole Patullo) – carry the stories of cold-water therapy that morphs into whole-life therapy, unleashing a wildness and a playfulness that is all about saying yes to the universe with a mighty howl. It is stunning theatre, destined for broader horizons. Our deepest thanks to the Mount Martha Sea Wolves for sharing their stories, to the creatives who brought their stories to life and the Mornington Peninsula Shire’s Performing Arts Development Grants Program for generously supporting Sea Wolves Howl and Portrait of a Sea Wolf Outdoor Exhibition. And to local maestro John Thorn for the musical score and accompaniment.

Day 2 belongs to Stephanie, and her sold-out Literary Lunch at the Flinders Hotel – with a Stephanie-curated menu from her best-selling cookbook, Fresh, and a wonderful In-Conversation about her two great loves: food and food education through her eponymous Kitchen Garden Foundation. With a packed room of Flinders’ finest, the chefs at the Flinders Hotel master all the Stephanie-flavours: from wattle seed blini, smoked trout and goats curd starters, to semolina, saltbush & eggplant fritters to a sublime barramundi curry w/beetroot riata and rhubarb tartlets to finish us off. Leaning in to Stephanie’s personal story is the story of the old Peninsula, of growing up in West Rosebud and expansive market gardens all along Boneo Road. And her dreams of a big-life that took her first to France and then beyond, and home again. Somehow that West Rosebud teenager who went to Rosebud High is never far from Stephanie’s thoughts, and her passion to get food education in schools hasn’t waned. What a joy to hear that passion still going strong. Our thanks to the Karen & Peter Inge and the Flinders Hotel for hosting this really scrumptious luncheon, and to Stephanie Alexander and her gorgus team at the Kitchen Garden Foundation for this very special event.

From Stephanie’s stunning culinary communion, we’re off to the Church to find internationally acclaimed concert pianist Coady Green in a musical and spiritual union performing new works by composers from the LGBTIQ+ community, and their allies. It’s a sweet serenade of inclusivity and joy – and the acoustics inside St John’s soar to the heavens.

Coady’s superb set gives us just enough time to get back to the Peninsula Room of the Flinders Hotel for 17-year-old sensation CC Dewar, blending jazz, R&B and soul – and accompanied by pianist Matt Steele. CC’s honeyed voice carries well beyond on her years and this show will be the one you saw at Fringe before the rest of the world discovered her. The teenage VCA Secondary student, model and actor is fast becoming one of the buzz- names in jazz and after her showcase show at Fringe we absolutely know why!

By nightfall we’re headed back to the fancy shed for our Gala Performance of Sea Wolves Howl with Gala Refreshments courtesy of Bass and Flinders Distillery and a Gala-Gift Pack featuring an exclusive cotton/linen tea-towel with Sea Wolves artwork by brilliant local illustrator Pearl Baillieu, a bottle of Rahona Valley rosé and home-baked Sea Wolves shortbreads from Ellie and Sandra’s home kitchens. You got us at the tea-towel & the shortbreads, Flinders Fringe… The second show was a knock-out, the taste of big things to come.

We see out the night back at Fringe Central, the Flinders Hotel, for a late night date with the Reg Cole Quartet, and we find them right on-song, channelling a unique blend of jazz, soul and latino vibes for a swinging little nightcap.

Day 3 starts at dawn at Flinders Pier, the meeting point for the exquisitely conceived Leave Only Footprints and Echoes performance in three parts by the Mornington Improvisation Collective. With sand between our toes, we’re greeted by percussionist Poul Grage’s beautiful blending of brushes and ocean sounds, then it’s up the Flinders steps to find shakuhachi bamboo flautist Anne Norman serenading our ascent, and then we climb higher into the coastal canopy to find Ria Soemardjo singing into a giant Indonesian gong, just as the sun breaks through with a lightshow of crepuscular rays on the horizon. It’s a magic way to start the day. Huge thanks to the MP Shire’s Performing Arts Development Grant for supporting this superb performance.

From here it’s over to the Bowlo, where Uncle Lionel Lauch is singing up the spirit creatures Bunjil, the eagle, and Wah, the crow, in a yidaki meditation that is tens of thousands of years old. This Bunurong/Boonwurrong country is powerful and we let the gentle healing sounds of the ancient yidaki set us up for the day. A group splits off to Mushroom Reef for a Living Culture guided walk, another peels off to Poets Corner for some spirited raconteuring and a coffee at Georgie Bass. So many choices… and now the juggling begins…

We’ve signed up for Artist-in-Residence Joshua Searle’s Wall of Gold street art workshop to learn about the art of spray paint, stencil and social political commentary. Born and raised on the Mornington Peninsula, Joshua’s Basquiat-inspired work has taken pride of place at the Flinders Hotel for the duration of the Festival. The collaborative piece we’re creating draws on his Colombian heritage using a stencil of a Colombian gold mask (held at the British Museum) and the spray paint palette in the colours of the Colombian flag to create a powerful commentary on the stuff the British stole. It’s a bold concept that will transform the walls of the Flinders Cove Motel over the next 24 hours. It’s physical and fun, and face masks essential for this one!

The Spotlight Artisan Fair is well underway by the time we get to St Johns Church, and everyone is buzzing around Kate Gorringe-Smith’s Flock Workshop with a group of passionate local illustrators and painters who’ve produced some exquisite drawings of local shorebirds. The work is both beautiful on the eye but also an important reminder of where we live and precious ecosystem that supports the RAMSAR-listed wetlands, in Westernport Bay.

Some music has started up and some talented students from Westernport Secondary College are showing us why music in school education is so powerful and transformative. It’s especially wonderful to see Nash Jones’ performing so beautifully to such an appreciative audience in the Church grounds. From here it’s inside the Church for Protest Poetry and the Priest, which is exactly what it says on the box – written and presented by St Johns vicar, The Reverend Keiron Jones, with music composed by John Thorn and singers Fiona and Bonnie Thorn and Christopher Watson performing some moving musical versions of classic poetry: from Dylan Thomas, to Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Henry Lawson, William Blake and Adrienne Rich.

It’s a beautiful, ethereal communion and a chance to catch our breath, and then we’re back into the daylight as Helen Kennedy’s Art Room Cyanotype Workshop is just about to start. There’s feathers and fabrics and flora and found objects destined for personalised frames and there’s a beautiful crafting-vibe that we wish we had time to be part of. Our thanks to our friends at Spotlight for the covering up aprons…

Eyes on the clock, we’re boot-scooting back to the Bowlo for Whistle and Trick’s kids-of-all-ages show – and the kids are on the cool-aid when we get there. There’s a furry monster called Frank on stage, but nobody seems to mind. Frank’s a friendly kind of monster who keeps the scary monsters away, and it’s a very good thing he fits under the bed. The whole show is completely divine. Funny, educational, catchy and danceable. And a glorious gift from the parental heavens when juggling little-me’s. Whistle and Trick, aka Maddy and Esther, are the rising stars of little-folks entertainment – watch out for them on ABC Kids telly and watch their stars rise and rise… Another one to clock up in the ‘You Saw Them First At the Fringe’ file. Completely divine.

We’re racing to get back to the Church to see mezzo-soprana Caroline Verco test the veracity of the stained-glass windows and the performance is sublime. And so are the windows, which remain magnificently intact. We first met Caroline when she performed as part of the Street Requiem on the Ridge in October 2023, and we’re reminded of the Fabulous Flinders Fringe Finale picnic that will reprise the Requiem Choir, on Sunday afternoon. It’s a jam-packed Finale, but we’ve still a few shows to get to before then…

There’s also been multiple sightings of Sea Wolves in the Village Common checking out their portraits and taking selfies with themselves all afternoon, and a flashmob of cows have been wandering up and down Cook Street, mooing at passers-by. Thankfully the bovines belong to the Dreamhouse Theatre, and the Sea Wolves are in human-form and no actual animals were harmed in any of the performances. Phew.

We’ve freshened up and put on our fancy pants for the Dear Nelly Podcast at the Bowlo. And it’s all sex and the single girl/woman/non-binary person when long-lost best-friends Nelly Thomas and Peninsula expat and UK-based comic superstar Helen Thorn reunite on stage and get down to the funny business. It’s a saucy, sassy, nothing-off-limits show – and it is absolutely hilarious. If a Bowling Club could blush it would have painted itself pink.

Thank you, Helen and Nelly for bringing the laughs and the smarts and being funny with your art! (Sidenote to reader: You might have also seen Helen running around Flinders in training for the Boston Marathon. True story! She even clocked a PB in the Flinders Running Festival – not actually part of Fringe but miraculously coincided and lots of Eye of the Tiger action if you missed it. Helen finished 12 th woman overall over the 8km distance and 7 th in the 35-59 age category. So she not only made us laugh like kookaburras and inspired us to get back on the dating horse, she’s also got us channelling Kate Bush and running up those Flinders hills. Who would have thunk it? What a woman!).

Anyhoo, back to the Fringe… and it’s the longest Saturday night in the history of Flinders. We’re off to see local songbirds Mietta and Maxon in a double-header that has us heading to the Flinders Golf Club at sunset. Both proudly local and a big part of the local music community, both Mietta and Max bring a big-hearted warmth to their songs and their performances, and both sets are a wonderful reminder that there must be something in the water on the Peninsula, we really do produce some incredible musical talent, and these two are on their way to bigger stages. Our thanks, again, to the MP Shire’s Performing Arts Development Grant for generously supporting Maxon to record her most recent album. The songs sound amazing. And stay tuned for a soon-to-be recorded collaboration between these two incredible local singer/songwriters. The Double M’s…

LadyFox is onstage doing her Billie Holiday show by the time we get back to the Flinders Hotel and we stay long enough to be completely transported to the 1930’s and 1940’s by the smooth, sultry sounds of this modern-day Lady Day. Lady Fox is class and style personified and what a joy to have her back at the Festival for the second year. Thank you, foxy lady. Then it’s back over to the Bowlo where Bonnie Thorn is channelling Blossom Dearie and singing up the jazz sounds of New York, via Paris, the famed singer was renowned for in her show Bonnie Thorn In Love. It’s a beautiful homage and a pretty special daughter-father combination with John Thorn accompanying on piano.

It’s been a very long day… one more sleep before the Fabulous Flinders Fringe Finale.

Day 4 is the big finale – and we’re off and running early with soundchecks in the Church Grounds for the Fabulous Flinders Fringe finale produced by the magnificent Sally Baillieu. I’ve had to forgo the Colombian brunch with Joshua Searle and Emily Childs-McCulloch and Danny Lacy In-Conversation at the Flinders Hotel to double as rockstar wrangler/stage manager for the finale. Just a little change of hats for our stellar line-up of new and emerging artists, some already well on their way, along with a few cameos and crowd pleasers to bring everyone together over a picnic lunch.

It’s a finely tuned team with our wonderful volunteers keeping all our wheels on and the stage running like clockwork as we roll into our first act, Whistle & Trick, and this time a tropical emu called Melindu has turned up so Frank the Friendly Monster can have a sleep in. Reasonable, it’s hard work being a friendly monster. Then it’s local girls Natasha Kate and Emmie Li, who’ve been honing their craft at the wonderful Music Industry music school in Rosebud, and they’re followed by some jazz classics Summertime and At Last delivered exquisitely by the extraordinary CC Dewar. CC makes us hold our breath and wonder where that voice comes from, and also how long it will be until we don’t see her again for dust…

Then it’s local girls Natasha Kate and Emmie Li, who’ve been honing their craft at the wonderful Music Industry music school in Rosebud, and they’re followed by some jazz classics Summertime and At Last delivered exquisitely by the extraordinary CC Dewar. CC makes us hold our breath and wonder where that voice comes from, and also how long it will be until we don’t see her again for dust…

Then it’s a Trio of Thorns – Bonnie, Fiona and John – dipping further into the jazz songbook with incredible aplomb, before the divine Kee’Ahn takes the stage with their soulful R&B and pop rhythms, infused with powerful First Nations songlines. It’s a beautiful way to close out the first half of the show and as the food trucks, ice cream and Etch sparkling vans keep on keeping on we re-set the stage for the second half…

And it’s the mighty Street Requiem Choir that files onto the stage to reprise the extraordinary musical work co-created by Dr Kathleen McGuire and Andy Payne, along with Jonathon Welch. Kathleen is a superb choir leader and watching her lead her 40-strong choir, with Andy front and centre, it’s an absolute joy as I slip quietly into the back row to join in the Gloria chorus. Hosanna!!

Next up the Dreamhouse Theatre kids have offloaded the moo-suits and are testing out their improv-storytelling skills, stitching together random words sourced from the audience and creating a narrative on the fly. It’s silly and fun and full of theatre-smarts. And a gift for a generation of local kids who are daring to dream. Dreamhouse is another creative iteration of the truly brilliant Carole Patullo, who had a very full dance card during Fringe. Brava Carole, what a gift you are to our creative community. Shine on you shiny Dreamhouse kids… Next act please.

A swift stage left exit makes way for the stage right entry of two thirds of the Mornington Improv Collective and the duelling maestros Poul Grage and Anne Norman. After yesterday’s dawn serenade, today’s performance is a soaring and skilful syncopation of bamboo fluteand percussion, riffing and rhyming and rhythming through a free-range composition. The unspoken language of music forming a neurological superhighway between two masters of their craft before our eyes. It’s magic. And then…

The Sea Wolves are ready to howl one last time. And they have just enough left in the tank for one last performance of the signature tune Power of the Pack. What a triumph this show, these stories, these people saying yes to the lifeline of possibility and no to fear and inhibition. These four shows at Fringe have been transformative for an entire community and the ripples, well the ripples… watch this space.

Last to the stage is the mighty Jess Hitchcock, a formidable First Nations artist descendant from the Torres Strait and PNG. Accompanied by Christian Barbieri on guitar, Jess is a superb closing stanza to a three-hour extravaganza – her beautifully crafted songs reminiscent of her work with Paul Kelly, but stepping proudly into her own genre-defying power. Jess sings us out the last notes of a truly Fabulous Flinders Fringe Finale, and it’s a perfect end to a beautifully curated afternoon.

But there’s still a little life left in this indefatigable Festival. And there’s just enough time for a quick jump off the pier and then it’s back to Bowlo for the Wrap Party and some music from local songmen James Kelly, Matt Kelly and Charlie Owen on slide guitar. The room is full of those happy, sated smiles, basking in the afterglow of the business of show. What a truly magnificent few days in Flinders, community coming together, holding each other up, celebrating creatives and howling at the moon. What an absolute rolled gold triumph.

Thank you Melissa & thank you Claire – and everyone you brought with you. You have built a big, bold, beautiful thing that is so much greater than the sum of its parts. You have swept us all up in your infectious inspiration, and left us with cups overflowing…

Thank you to the Flinders Fringe partners and supporters: Mornington Peninsula Shire, the Flinders Hotel, 3MP and liveMP, Peninsula Sotheby’s, Bev & Frank Agosta, Flinders Bowling Club, Flinders Golf Club, the Flinders Cove Motel, Flinders General Store, Rahona Wines, Balnarring and District Community Bank, Peninsula Pilates, Flinders Osteo, Flinders Community Association, the Friends of Flinders Fringe and the generous donors who want to remain anonymous.

And to the performers, creatives and everyone who came and bought tickets – and our mighty VOLUNTEERS! This festival is what it is because of you!

After months of meticulous planning, magnificent curation and a magic-filled four days – let the records show Flinders Fringe 2024 – A Howling Success!! Thank You FFF24, see you in 2025!