Broome Festival

  This is a great time of year to pick up a broom. A Broome pearl, that is.  A second business trip to this vacation oasis in the far north of Western Australia could not have been better timed.

   There is a big festival going on – the Shinju Matsuri.  It is commonly referred to as the Broome Festival.  This is a celebration of the Asian and Pearl culture in the area.  An industry once highly dangerous for its shark-infested, oxygen-depriving ‘naked dives’  has evolved into  a high-science, cultured pearl industry.   With the trials and tribulations of those early days long gone, a highly diverse population embraces its past and celebrates the gold-colored nacred beauties  that have put Broome on the map.

Broome Fest Dragon parade

   The Festival starts with a bang…literally.  Firecrackers go off and the Dragon parade starts winding its way through Chinatown.  Stephen “Baamba” Albert, an Aboriginal folk singer regales revelers with songs about ‘saltwater cowboys’ (read:  pearl divers) and food trucks keep us fed.

Baamba sings of saltwater cowboys

Staircase to the Moon

    For another week and a half, the party continues with special markets, art exhibitions, athletic events, motor stampedes, musical performances including a night of Opera Under the Stars, a popular long-table luncheon and a gala ball.  The big highlight, around which the Festival is always scheduled, is the Staircase To The Moon.  The natural phenomenon of the Staircase to the Moon occurs between March and October when the full moon rises over the exposed mudflats of Roebuck Bay at extremely low tide creating the optical illusion of a staircase reaching for the moon.  It draws big crowds, many of whom walk the low tide area with has receded from its original shoreline by almost a mile. Not too dramatic an appearance this month and a greater camera than mine is needed to capture it, but it was fun.

 

Broome courthouse markets

    Another delightful phenomenon is the appearance of dragonflies.  The court house market has some beautiful, framed silk lightboxes , mostly with dragonfly motifs.  In fact, many crafted items have the dragonfly motif on them. A popular design at the time of my wedding, I have a soft spot for the double-winged beauties.  For Broomers, dragonflies signify the end of the rainy season.  They come in like locusts , but far from pests, they  eat all the mosquitoes the rainy season also brought in.  Dragonfly appearances also indicate that the warm ocean currents will start bringing the whale migration and that comfortable weather is coming.

    Perfect for the Festival of Broome.