MEENIYAN staged its glittering night of nights last Saturday night, their annual Marty Gras fundraising ball, at the iconic Meeniyan Town Hall and what a roaring success it turned out to be.
Revellers hit the rainbow carpet early in the evening, in all their colourful finery, filling tables with food, drink, chatter and laughter but the event was supercharged by the arrival of the founder himself, Marty Thomas, on board a pretty pink float, accompanied by friend Kym Lewis.
Those in the hall surged outside again and on to the pavement in front of the hall, where cheers went up for the arrival of the patron of the event who took a turn around the town’s CBD before parking outside.
In a carefully choreographed move, another truck arrived soon after and when the sides were pulled open, music from a 15-piece band leapt out, starting with the Jackson 5 classic ‘Blame it on the Boogie’ and there was dancing in the street, and as the sun came down, the celebrations moved inside.
DJ Golden Fleece kept the dancefloor full throughout the night with movers and groovers pausing only briefly to welcome to the stage the absolutely fabulous drag queen duo of high heeled, high energy Xena Ghost and winner of Rising Drag Star of the year at the MEDEAs for 2024, the fabulous Kat Zowthabag.
With equally fabulous food provided by the highly-active Meeniyan branch of the Red Cross, Saturday night at Meeniyan was the place to be.
This year’s event raised much-needed funds for the charity foundations Opportunities of Development thru Art (ODA) in Cambodia, and Gippsland Pride Initiative Inc