The Arch Of Love

This Supernatural tradition was borne circa 1997, and came to be known as The Arch Of Love. The Arch is about seven feet tall, made of cane, and wide enough for only one person to walk through at a time. It was probably made to be a garden arch, or arbour. It appeared in the middle of a footpath through the Amphitheatre during the ’96 or ’97 Meredith festival, nobody really knows why. To the quiet amusement of patrons nearby, people had to choose either to walk through it, or walk around it, as it was slap bang in the middle of a busy footpath. It turned up the next year, but with new decorations – a mass of plastic vines and pink flowers were threaded through the cane. It has been there every year since, in the same place, in different costume. One year it was present in a tailored leopard skin suit. The Arch has nothing to do with the organisers; it is brought along by a private citizen, and it has become an institution at Meredith.

A tradition sprung up that if two people walked under it they had to kiss. The Raccoon spent one afternoon doing some social studies; most women-folk would go out of their way to walk through it, most men would deviate from their path if they were on target to walk through it. Says a lot doesn’t it. Thankyou very much to whoever The Archkeeper is. We did spy him one year taking The Arch out of the boot of his nondescript 80s white Japanese hatchback.