Dubbed Melbourne’s own ‘mini-Folsom Street Party’ and raising funds for Thorne Harbour Health’s David Williams Fund and JOY 94.9, Northside Bizarre returns this Saturday taking over the Laird Hotel and surrounding streets in an afternoon that truly puts the fun in fundraising!
“During the ’00s some of our fundraisers had gone a bit by the wayside,” Brett Lasham, coowner of the Laird Hotel told us, “and a well-known member in our community, Tex Mckenzie, approached me about ways we could keep the fundraisers moving forward but in a different way.”
Inspired by the spirit of the original Laird Auction and Slave Market, Northside Bizarre was born. With people and businesses donating items to be auctioned at the Laird during an inclusive Saturday afternoon and a BBQ in the beer garden it became a huge hit and an annual fundraiser for two important organisations in our community.
“In 2015 we realised that the event had gotten so big that we needed to expand, so we took over the Masonic Hall across the road and closed off the street next to the pub,”Lashasm said. “This year will be the fourth year where Northside Bizare takes over the surrounding areas, which allows us to have extra events and create more opportunities for the community to be a part of the days fundraising.
With the Masonic Hall transformed into an auction house for the afternoon, you will be able to bags yourself a bargain with hampers, artworks and more that has been donated community members and queer and queer friendly businesses. This Saturday Stuart Black’s ‘All Stock Must Go‘, 1988 is just one of the fantastic original artworks going under the hammer.
Image : Thorne Harbour Health & JOY volunteers in The Alley and Melbourne Rubbermen and Leatherman – Northside Bizarre 2018
Out on Henry Street you’ll find The Alley, with a marketplace of vendors and artists as well as the Melbourne Rubbermen Gimp ringtoss and the return of Eagle Leathers Dunk Tank. The entire community truly comes together for Northside Bizarre, with Dykes on Bikes Melbourne handling coat check and VicBears on the BearBQ, plus some of Melbourne’s inclusive sporting teams tickling your sweet tooth with the MasterBaker Competition.
“Masterbaker was the brain child of Cal Hawk from Thorne Harbour and Melbourne Surge who has been pivitol in helping make Northside Bizarre happen each and every year,” Lasham told us. “Our inclusive sporting teams are some of the most active people in our communities, and we loved the idea of finding a way to engage with them to be a part of the day. So instead of having them battle it out on sports field we had them do it in the kitchen instead, with our own spin on a bake-off where the teams make sweets that everyone can purchase for a gold coin and judge their favourite bite size treat.”
Now that the event is on the street you would think that things would quiet down in The Laird, but that just leaves more space for everyone in the community to take a break from the Auction Hall or The Alley, where they can check our the Leather and Treasure Markt, a great space to pick up a bargain or two for those wanting to try new things, or just grab a drink and enjoy the view as Down and Dirty take over the Laird Stage for an afternoon of kinky and community entertainment.
Image: BeeJay from Eagle Leather at the dunk tank and the Melbourne Wranglers at Masterbaker – Northside Bizarre 2018
JOY 94.9 will be doing a live broadcast from the event from 1-3pm plus Star Observer will be there on Saturday afternoon to capture all the excitement of this inclusive fundraising event for all.
Come on down to Northside Bizarre, and help raise funds for Thorne Harbour Healths David Williams Fund and JOY 94.9 at the cheekiest fundraiser in Melbourne.
