THE Melbourne International Food and Wine Festival, Fair Work Australia and a number of other interesting topics are on the agenda for next month’s Dandenong Retail Traders Association (DRTA) meeting.
Greater Dandenong will play a big part in the Melbourne International Food and Wine festival between 13 and 20 March.
The festival will attract busloads of visitors to Central Dandenong who will travel from Federation Square to sample the delights of the Greater Dandenong area.
On offer will be three food tours, the Little India tour, the Afghan Bazaar tour and the World of Food Passport tour, all of which will also include a trip to the Dandenong market.
The tours are being organised as part of a $290 million Revitalising Central Dandenong initiative about building on the strengths of Dandenong, two of which are its food and its many cultures.
“The festival will bring people to Dandenong who might otherwise never visit the capital of Melbourne’s south-east,” says VicUrban’s development director, Michael King.
“There is every reason to believe that some of the people coming to Dandenong for the first time on one of these tours will become repeat visitors and customers.”
The DRTA meeting will also explain Fair Work Australia – and how it will affect retailers – and draw attention to the Centrelink Jobs Expo at the Dandenong Market at which all retailers are invited to have a free display.
The guest speaker will be Lisa van Doorn from VicUrban.
Dandenong Retail Traders Association chairman Roy Aspinall said that everyone was welcome at the meeting, but encouraged retailers to become members.
“Membership of the Dandenong Retail Traders Association is a wonderful way to have a say in what happens in Central Dandenong,” he said.
The meeting will start at 6pm on 2 March at the Ramada Encore Hotel.
For details about the food tours call 9771 6666.
– Madeline Prince
