Celebrations with mermaids, pirates, storytelling, music and food will take over the Dolphin Discovery Centre and Koombana Bay this weekend.
The only Dolphin Fesitval to be held in Australia, the event will celebrate the official re-opening of the Dolphin Discovery Centre and showcase what Bunbury has to offer as a tourism destination.
Dolphin Discovery Centre chief executive officer David Kerr said it would be mayhem with lots of things happening.
“We’ve linked it to our official opening, the new facilities for some of us have been a long time coming and it’s been a dream that has been realised over the past 25 years,” he said.
“It’s an opportunity for us to brand ourselves around the festival and to attract people to an animal in particular that people have positive attitudes towards.
“This becomes an important part of the entry into the city and announces the contemporary nature of modern Bunbury.
“It’s onwards and upwards from here in terms of how we really get into strong destination marketing – we have a much better reason for people in Perth in particular to come here, only two hours down the road.”
The celebrations will on Wednesday night at the centre with the performance of a short new musical play, written by Sigari Luckwell with music by Gordon Tayler, directed by Andy King titled Delfini.
The local cast of 20 will take the audience on a journey with storytelling, music dialogue, humour, and the history of dolphin-human interactions in Koombana Bay.
“It’s been developing over a long period of time, Sigari was a volunteer at the dolphin centre and she initiated the whole project,” Mr King said.
“It’s a celebration of the interaction between the Koombana Bay dolphins and people over time.
“It’s a local story created by local storytellers and it arises out of the community.”
The centre will officially be opened by Premier Mark McGowan on Friday night before the weekend celebrations kick off on Saturday morning with a pancake breakfast followed by an array of activities.
For more visit dolphindiscovery.com.au.