HUNDREDS of Central West women banded together in Orange for an evening of Buddha bowls, grazing platters and pizzas, with an atmosphere described as "incredibly moving" and "captivating".
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Organised by Amorette Zielinski of Facebook's online community Central West Mums, the second Mumfest event was held at the Orange Ex-Services' Club on March 12, with its special guest Samantha Bloom said to create several waves of different feelings throughout the all-gal crowd.
"As our emcee commented, you could hear a pin drop when all eyes were focused on Sam Bloom - there was lots of emotion in the room," Mrs Zielinski said.
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"The whole room was captivated and moved by her story. Everyone was blown away and I honestly had so many women come up to me after she spoke and say 'oh my gosh, Sam was absolutely amazing' with tears still in some of their eyes."
Two-time World Para Surfing champion, Samantha Bloom was said to be the "highlight" of the Mumfest event, with the best-selling author - and inspiration behind the number one Australian box-office and international global Netflix hit movie, Penguin Bloom - inviting fellow mums into her past and present.
Supported with photographic content by her husband, the audience was provided another level of "moving" context during Mrs Bloom's talk, with Mrs Zielinski describing its unfolding to pack quite a powerful punch.
"It was just a beautiful, beautiful story with amazing imagery and visuals from Cam Bloom - who is an incredible photographer - to go with the whole story," she said.
"There were gorgeous images of their boys while Sam was speaking, shots of magpies from her book, some beautiful moments to chuckle at - everyone said the entire delivery just blew them away."
Followed by a personal meet and greet, photo opportunities and autographs, the Mumfest organiser said Mrs Bloom stayed with the women until late.
"All of the books that were stacked up on the table, they just disappeared," Mrs Zielinski said.
"[Samantha Bloom] was still there until 11pm signing books, talking with everyone, listening and sharing. Women were just lined up to have a chat with her after feeling so incredibly moved and capitated by her life story and what she has achieved since then - it was definitely the highlight of the night."
With the COVID-19 virus cackling in the face of so many planned events over the past two years, Mrs Zielinski said that although there were bumps in the road with venue changes, the "spectacular" evening was well-worthy of the wait.
"People loved the vibe in the room and so many women said they had truly not had a night out in so long, so it was just the right timing to get everyone out, because God we waited a long time," she said.
"When Mumfest launched in 2019 - as far as I'm aware - there just weren't any all-women's events like this and I think we need more events that support women and get women out, because it's purely for their wellbeing and social connectedness.
"It was an epic night for women to dance, catch-up with friends and just reconnect."
With over $4500 thousand dollars worth of prizes donated by local businesses, sponsors and prize partners, two winners were drawn on the night for a VERTO 'tech pack' and RM Williams boots donated by Blowes Clothing.
"With COVID being so unpredictable at the time as well, we wanted all ticket-holders to be in the running for prize drawers whether the event got cancelled or people couldn't make it, so we'll be drawing out more prize winners to announce online today," Mrs Zielinski said.
"To pull together that many people with so many other wonderful events on the same night, too, it was great to have the numbers we did and to see people having the confidence to go out with lots of people again was fantastic."
With its third Mumfest event rumoured to be in the pipeline already, Mrs Zielinski is also looking forward to the online group's next gig later in the year, the Central West Mums Awards.
"I designed it to be in recognition and acknowledgment of people doing amazing things in communities or across the Central West," she said.
"There's awards like Hero of the Year, Angel of the Year, mum and business awards of the year, recognising great and extraordinary volunteer work - it's as voted by a lot of our community audience, so there may be two events, but we'll just have to wait and see."
For more information on the Central West Mums group, search for the page via Facebook or head to the website.