Participants took up knitting needles, chain mail and astroturf to create some of the most unusually tea cozies for this year’s Fish Creek Tea Cosy Festival in Australia. Featuring music, movies, music workshops, a makers’ fair, and afternoon teas, the ten day festival (May 16-25) is also hosting its second tea cozy competition.
Fish Creek, known locally as “Fishy,” is a township located in South Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. Victoria, where Melbourne is also located, is a state in southeastern Australia. According to the festival website, “The Tea Cosy (Festival) reflects the rural setting of Fish Creek, the
nurturing and welcoming nature of the town, the blending of traditional and new enterprises and the opportunity to reinvent an iconic symbol of everyday life.
The 165 entries came from all over Australia as well as from other countries across the globe. The judging categories included traditional, aquatic, “exbuberant whimsy,” and even “butch” which were tea cozies made by men or for use by men. Contestants could compete in the junior, open, or senior categories.
One unusual group of entries came from knitters in Tecoma who created cozies to protest the construction of a McDonald’s in their village.
Children’s book author and illustrator Alison Lester was the judge. The festival is sponsored by Madame Flavour teas, Regional Arts Victoria and the South Gippsland Shire Council.
Source: ABC Gippsland, Fish Creek Tea Cosy Festival
