History of the festival
The Portarlington Mussel Festival started as a street festival back in 2007 as a way to celebrate and promote the local mussel industry. Today it’s grown into one of the most popular community festivals in Victoria with over 30,000 visitors, live music all day long, hundreds of market stalls and a whole lotta delicious mussels. A great day out for the whole family!
As a community event, it is run entirely by a team of dedicated volunteers who volunteer their time to ensure the festival is a success year after year. Thanks to their efforts, the event has already redirected over $230,000 to community initiatives.
Set against the backdrop of picturesque Portarlington beach, this one-day festival is the perfect reason to explore the Bellarine Peninsula this summer. And best of all, leave the car at home and catch the ferry that runs directly between Docklands and Portarlington!
For a very reasonable $5 cash donation per adult (kids are free), you can enjoy a full day of activities including:
- Live music over five main stages all day long
- Mussels cooked in a variety of styles
- Kids activities
- Cooking demonstrations
- Art & Photo exhibitions
- Beer and wine tasting
- Over 200 market stalls
Find us at Portarlington Park in the heart of Portarlington from 9:30am-5pm. For more information about transport options to the festival check out this page.
The Mussel Industry
Starting with a handful of farmers in 1982, the industry now boasts over 20 mussels farmers in Port Phillip Bay.
Most commonly grown are the tasty blue mussels which are sweet in flavour, high in protein and low in fat. The mussel industry is very labour intensive with much of the work very much dependent on the weather.
Weather permitting the boats can run seven days a week doing spat collections, socking, harvesting & maintenance.
Mussels are one of the least expensive seafoods, are extremely versatile and easy to prepare – making them extremely popular and ideal for an economical tasty meal!