A Bacchus Marsh Good Friday pageant that has hosted four generations of the same family has been denied $2500 in funding under Moorabool council’s winter grants program.
The Bacchus Marsh Good Friday Association applied for council funding to help stage the “religious, historical and educational event’’.
But a report to this month’s council meeting said the application’s criteria assessment score of 48.75 fell short of a policy requirement of 70.4.
The Good Friday association was the only one of 17 applicants to miss out on funding.
The rejection follows a community backlash in August, when the council suggested that groups such as churches, schools and volunteer fire brigades should not be eligible for the grants scheme.
The Good Friday procession sees thousands of pilgrims flock to Bacchus Marsh’s Catholic community centre Our Lady of Ta Pinu Marian, to reaffirm their faith. It has become a celebration of multiple traditions for Italian, Indian, Filipino, Sri Lankan, Spanish, Vietnamese and Slovenian Catholics.
The event is of particular importance to Victoria’s Maltese community, with shrines hoisted on shoulders in a procession that reminds many of their homeland.
Four generations of the Baldacchino family attend the service, from children through to patriarch Salvu Baldacchino, 75.
Salvu’s son, Gino, said the local celebration was a passionate reminder of Easter observances in the family’s ancestral village.
‘’We used to carry this in our own village,’’ he said. ‘‘There’s a 30-year wait to carry the statues; it’s passed down from generation to generation.’’
The council grants included $3000 for The Longest Lunch, staged by Djerriwarrh Health Services, and Yendon History Group’s World War I memorial restoration project. Gordon’s Back in Time festival received $1000 and a fun run hosted by
St Brendans Primary School’s parents and friends association received $5000.
Moorabool council did not respond before the Weekly deadline.
