Multicultural Cherry Fiesta receives recognition

Young's National Cherry Festival's Multicultural Cherry Fiesta has been recognised for its success again this year, and was awarded the 2026 RH Dougherty Events and Communications Award in the Innovation in Special Events category at the Local Government Week Awards Dinner in Sydney on 6 August. This award adds on to the Festivals and Community Events (Population Under 50,000) category award the Cherry Fiesta received at the 2026 NSW Local Government Excellence Awards earlier in the year. In a post to Facebook, Hilltops Council said these prestigious awards recognise excellence, innovation and community engagement, and are a wonderful reflection of the hard work, creativity and collaboration that goes into delivering the National Cherry Festival each year. "A huge congratulations and thank you to our Events Team, volunteers, community groups, sponsors and performers whose dedication and passion have helped showcase the Hilltops region on the state stage.," Hilltops Council said. Council's acting general manager Sarah Karaitiana said it was such an amazing effort from everyone involved in bringing the Multicultural Cherry Fiesta to life and to win such a prestigious award. Hilltops Council was up against 11 other strong nominees in the 2026 RH Dougherty Events and Communications Award, and Ms Karaitiana said to win is fantastic and a real reflection on the events team that delivered the event, as well as the community that participated, "Events like these can't come to life without the collaboration of everyone that was involved, it was a really special event for our community and we hope to see it bigger and better this year," she said. Ms Karaitiana said to be recognised twice in fairly quick succession is realy an outstanding achievement and it has been a real boost to everyone that's involved. Mayor Darcy Byrne, President of Local Government NSW, said the winners at the 2026 Local Government Week Awards exemplified the innovation, leadership and community focus that continues to define Local Government in NSW. "These councils are setting the standard across NSW. They're constantly finding new ways to serve their communities,” Mayor Byrne said. "Behind every winning project are council staff and elected representatives working to make their communities stronger, more vibrant, connected and resilient. "Local Government Week celebrates a sector that delivers every day. These councils show what’s possible when local leadership is backed by vision, creativity and a commitment to community," he said. The annual awards recognise council excellence, highlighting projects, initiatives and campaigns that make a lasting difference to communities.