Tallarook Mechanics Institute is welcoming families for an evening of magic and wonder through The Quizzical Mr Jeff on Sunday.
In his all-ages show, Mr Jeff is known to circulate happiness as he combines magic and humour for the children and their parents to be left speechless.
Venue coordinator and secretary Alan Wright said the dazzling event was a chance for families to gather and to make use of the afternoon’s entertainment.
“We’re hoping that people will make an afternoon of it before settling into their Sunday evening routines for the week ahead,” Mr Wright said.
Volunteers from the Tallarook community will staff the kitchen and bar, providing food and beverages for families to access before the show.
A raffle will also feature at the event, giving away donations from local business supporters, as well as two free tickets to the next upcoming event at the institute.
Mr Wright described the businesses that offered their goods as ‘friends of TMI’, as many businesses were from the shire or the farmer’s market that operated once a month.
“One of the things we do is at all the events, whether it is theatre or live music, we always take the opportunity to have a raffle, so the volunteers are selling raffle tickets to everyone on the day,” he said.
“The monthly farmers market that is hosted at the Tallarook Hall on the first Sunday of every month, we’ve got wonderful creators and producers who sell their products for the market, and so they donate some of their offerings to us as well, so we’re able to raffle that off.”
After losing the original hall to a fire in 2018, Tallarook Mechanics Institute received a State Government grant of $200,000 for the hall’s acts and events.
Mr Wright said through the rebuild, the committee have been more effective in their preparations, especially when it came to larger acts from Melbourne.
“We, the volunteers, we feel really privileged, very lucky to have such a wonderful asset in which we are custodians of,” he said.
He said owning a state-of-art-facility with updated technology, staging and equipment benefited the Tallarook community as it could offer larger acts for regional families and friends.
“When we approach headline acts, and really good quality Australian artists that are used to performing in Melbourne’s theatres or at the arts centre or somewhere like that, what we’re offering is smaller but is not less in that sense, and that’s really significant cause that’s a huge tool for us,” Mr Wright said.
The Quizzical Mr Jeff starts at 3pm, with the kitchen and bar opening at 2pm, at Tallarook Mechanics Institute, located 44 Main Road, Tallarook.
