Frank attended the Olives to Oil Westside event
Event: Olives to Oil festival, McNish Reserve Yarraville.
01.06.25
Photo credit: Stephen McKenzie
Q: How did you find out about this event?
A: From my brother-in-law because he’s a lot more computer [savvy] than I am, and then it was a family thing. He said do you want to take part in all this and then we got the grandchildren, everybody involved and we collected olives. We asked our neighbours because [the olive trees] are in the nature strip and they said yes. That’s how it went.
Q: Why did you choose to participate in this event?
A: It’s a great event. Where we come from in southern Italy, there were literally thousands of [olive] trees, olive for oil was a big part of it. As a little boy, I remember in November because that’s what their Autumn there was, going under these huge trees which literally were hundreds of years old collecting this [olives]. For us, it’s tradition. We’re happy that this is taking place and we’re happy to cooperate. It’s a happy day and it’s nice.
Q. If we hold this event again in the future, would you plan on attending?
A: Yes, yes. Please do it, please do it. We certainly like to participate and as the word spread, I think that this is something that will become bigger and bigger every year. There is no doubt in my mind. There was a lot of people here today wanting to pickup oil and they [ the staff and volunteers] said no you can’t buy, you have to [drop-off olives]. So it is my view that this is something that will continue to grow and it’s a nice thing. I think that it gets the families together to participate and it’s a happy thing.