New Year’s feasts in Docklands

This year, the City of Melbourne’s New Year’s Eve celebrations will revolve around a COVID-safe celebration of Melbourne’s food and wine culture – with a focus on Docklands’ venues Cargo and Berth.

The City of Melbourne announced in November that fireworks would not form part of the celebrations, instead revealing the New Year Street Feasts – a two-day “dining experience” delivered in conjunction with the state government and the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival.

“Melbourne’s New Year’s Eve fireworks display usually draws up to 400,000 people to the city, which would put both members of the public and Police and Emergency Services members at risk during a pandemic,” the announcement read.

The New Year Street Feasts will run from December 31 to January 1 across more than 50 venues and 11 precincts. The Docklands chapter will be held at waterfront venues Cargo and Berth at NewQuay Promenade.

The City of Melbourne took inspiration from the piazzas and square of Europe in setting up the initiative, which was designed to bring people into the city across two days without drawing mass crowds at once.

The Lord Mayor Sally Capp said the council wanted to mark the end of a tough year by celebrating.

“We are tailoring a program to safely encourage more patrons into our incredible and deserving hospitality businesses that have struggled through lockdown restrictions,” the Lord Mayor said.

“This will be an opportunity to say goodbye to 2020, look forward to a brighter 2021 and thank every Melburnian for their efforts to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.”

John Scardamaglia, owner of Docklands restaurants Cargo and Berth, said he hoped the initiative would help make the New Year special.

“Without fireworks across Melbourne this year we wanted to do something different – with outdoor, waterfront dining – to help people celebrate a year none of us want to see again,” he said.

For more information: melbournefoodandwine.com.au