Christmas festival: Festive season in full swing with thousands flooding to Optus Stadium for holiday fun
The Christmas spirit arrived early in Perth, with families flocking to Optus Stadium for the first day of the weekend’s free festive fun.
Stadium Park was buzzing with energy at this year’s Christmas Festival; kids raced between carnival rides, had their faces painted, and were lucky enough to meet Santa Claus; and parents have identified the perfect spots ahead of Christmas movie screenings.
This will be 8-year-old Ayan’s first Christmas in Perth after recently moving from Tasmania.
While Ayan was taking photos with Santa Claus and his elves, his mother said, “It’s very nice because there are so many things for children to do here.”
For the Porter family, the festival provided just the atmosphere they were looking for.
Decked out in Christmas attire, mother Kim Porter said the whole point is to experience the festive spirit together.
“The Christmas spirit is the most important thing,” Ms. Porter said.
“We were going to go to Scarborough Carols but it was cancelled. . . . we wanted to make sure we could still do a Christmas event as a family.”
When asked what they were most excited about, sisters Vivienne, 5, and Eleanor, 7, did not hesitate and shouted “movies” in unison.
Families stocked up on dinner from nearby food trucks before heading to the amphitheater lawn and settling in for the first movie of the night, Santa Claus..
It wasn’t just people who got into the festive spirit; Mel Jean and Michael Shellback wore matching sweaters, while their dog Amity also wore a Christmas bandana.
Ms Jean said the festival was a welcome respite after a challenging year.
“This is the time of year when everyone puts aside all the stress in their lives and comes together and has some fun,” he said.
Mr Shellback said they decided to come after hearing it was a free event with lots of offerings.
“It’s also a good chance to meet up with our friends and family,” he said.
Hunter, 7, said he was so excited to meet Santa and hoped to ask him for a Transformers Lego set.
Nearby, brothers Roman, 8, and Sebastian, 5, were quick to make the most of their carnival ride, heading straight for the Lollie Swing.
Roman, 8, said it was his favorite because of the “spinning” part.
Thousands of people are expected to flock to Stadium Park over the weekend as families, friends and four-legged friends gather to kick off the festive season, with organizers predicting around 8,000 people will turn up each day.
The celebrations will continue on Sunday from 16.00.
