BOORAGOON’S Civic Square Precinct will host one final community spectacle before its transformation into Melville’s “cultural and civic heart”.
Work will begin in 2018 on the future Library and Cultural Centre, one element of the $750 million, three-year redevelopment of Garden City.
To sign off, the council combined and reallocated about $200,000 from other annual events to transform the precinct into a bustling village packed with live music, art, circus and cabaret, markets, food trucks, authors and plenty more on November 18.
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READ NOWMayor Russell Aubrey said the festival was a “once only unique event, heralding an ending and a beginning”.
“Merge is not your average festival, it is an opportunity to bring to life the possibility of our future cultural and civic heart,” he said.
“It merges and unpacks all the elements that will be in the City’s new Library and Cultural Centre including art, performance, local history, library and more.”
Tea ladies Vera and Lynn – an interactive performance from talented Attadale husband and wife duo Luc and Nikki Gheysen – are sure to add some colour to the event, offering 1950s style, chit-chat, tea, coffee and biscuits.
“There’s a lot of cheek,” Mrs Gheysen said of the pair’s act.
“It’s a real good icebreaker, to get everyone talking.”
Mr Gheysen said they were always popular. “This is interactive,” he said.
“That’s the beautiful thing. It’s not a set performance. We create a scenario and it goes off on a tangent, ad-lib.”
It will be one of two performances the pair – which owns Flying Trapeze Perth at Tompkins Park – will perform on the day.
Helping to keep people informed will be Magnus Danger Magnus, the MC and a man with “the liquid caramel voice of reason”.
“I will be very excited,” he said.
“Just pull the rip cord, let me go; it will be wonderful.”
Mr Aubrey said the Civic Square Library would close in June, with the City planning to open the new Library and Cultural Centre in 2021.
For Merge details, visit http://www.mergefestival.com.au.
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