popular, with some 15,000 people attending last year. It worked because, ‘the business owners here all had that common thread of a bit of creative, a bit of culture, a bit of art, a bit of community,’ Amelia says. ‘They really wanted to draw all of that together.’ Although the festival won’t be running this spring, the organisers are working with Council to determine how it can best continue, and they hope to revitalise it in 2019. Amelia says, ‘Kath and I worked on it for three or four months, full time, and it’s just impossible to put that time and energy into it again and again. Our businesses were suffering as we were spending so much time on the festival. It’s gut-wrenching as everyone loves it and we want it to happen, but at the same time there’s a line.’ Instead, they’ve partnered with Central Coast Council’s The Lakes Festival to bring an event to Long Jetty on November 18, the day the festival would have been. ‘It’ll be a picnic in the park or something along the foreshore,’ Amelia says. ‘We will incorporate some of the local vendors and businesses from previous festivals so that it’ll have the same feel, but it’ll be on a much smaller level.’ So what’s next? ‘I like to be busy,’ Amelia says. ‘I’ve always just done things that fit in or pop up and work well, and every now and then I’ll stop and think, ‘Well, what do I really want to do?’. We can’t wait to see. What do you like about Long Jetty? There’s something about The Jetty. I’ve always loved that there’s only six blocks between the lake and the beach, and for such a beautiful area it’s still evolving.
be near family. Home became Forresters Beach, but for work she always liked the idea of the Jetty. ‘Long Jetty was different to anywhere else on the Coast. There were new coffee shops popping up and it felt like a good spot to be. New businesses kept opening and that potential for change excited us. It seemed like somewhere that would continue to evolve.’ And evolve it has. Cafés such as The Glass Onion Society, Common Ground, and Green Tangerine – and, perhaps equally, their coveted Instagram feeds — have put this burb on the map. But perhaps the biggest change came about with the birth of the area’s own festival, the Long Jetty Street Festival in 2015. ‘It was Kath’s dream,’ Amelia says of the festival. Kath Devaney and her husband, Aaron, are Long Jetty locals and are the former owners of Green Tangerine. In 2015, Kath organised the first Long Jetty Street Festival with the help of Woy Woy’s Tropicana Pizza owner, Tim Stock. In 2016 and 2017, a committee of local businesses ran the festival themselves, and it proved
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What are some of your favourite places on the Coast? The ocean baths at The Entrance. Fishermen’s Wharf at Woy Woy is great to take the kids as they can play outside. I really like The Box at Ettalong – it has a slightly European feel being by the beach. I also love Remy & Co at Erina. Other than the Long Jetty Fest, what are some other local events you love attending? Mountain Sounds is a big one and it’s growing every year. They’re bringing some really good acts to the Coast. I haven’t managed to get to Harvest Festival over the past two years – the timing’s just not been right each year — but I love the concept of it. Tropicana Pizza is doing lots of little boutique events behind the campaign ‘Make Woy Woy Great Again’, which I really like. Where are we likely to find you on a Sunday morning? In bed. It’s the one day I don’t have to rush out. But after that I would be out having coffee and brunch somewhere. Usually somewhere near the beach – Green Tangerine at Long Jetty or Flour & Co at Toowoon Bay. I like to get to new places all the time too.