Hundreds visited Anglesea Memorial Hall to enjoy native Surf Coast flora on display in one of the biggest wildflower exhibitions across the state.

The Anglesea, Aireys Inlet Society for the Protection of Flora and Fauna (ANGAIR) held the highly anticipated return of its Wildflower and Art Weekend after two years of COVID-related cancellations.

The event is regarded as ANGAIR’s largest event on its calendar, and president Sally White said it was amazing to see an explosion of interest surrounding the weekend as stalls were displayed throughout the venue.

“It’s absolutely fabulous to see everyone again.

“In some ways, I suspect COVID has been good because it has actually forced people out of the house a bit.

“Every cloud has a silver lining.”

With wildflowers and weeds displayed in every corner of the hall, local environmental organisations also set up stalls to inform residents of major projects taking place in the Surf Coast. These included Corangamite Catchment Management Authority, Barwon Water, and Great Southern BioBlitz.

Ms White said membership at ANGAIR was sitting at about 850 members, and a major reason why the show has been held for the past 52 years was to update its members on what the committee is doing.

“Members are important to what we do as a committee – the show is a good way to inform our members of our various weeding programs, any grants that we’ve obtained, and whatever their membership fees are going towards,” Ms White said.

ANGAIR plant sellers Tracey Worsey and Donna Lannan said they sold upwards of 1,200 plants at the weekend.

Anglesea Community Bank has been a long time supporter of the show, and has contributed $1,000 toward the running costs of the event.

Surf Coast Times story here.