Moomba to celebrate 60th birthday with a special show Bert Newton as King Of Moomba back in 1978. MOOMBA will honour its history next year when the famous Melbourne festival puts on its 60th show. Organisers have pledged an exciting mix of colour, noise and movement to showcase stories of participants from both the past and present. It is expected that the $3.2 million event over the Labour Day weekend will pay tribute to previous Moomba monarchs, who have included Aussie legends such as Bert Newton, Molly Meldrum, Cathy Freeman and John Farnham. The parade will again be held on St Kilda Rd after being shifted from its traditional Swanston St venue in 2012. Melbourne City councillor Beverley Pinder-Mortimer, who is chair of the marketing portfolio, said the council would use Moomba to highlight St Kilda Rd as a thriving city precinct. "I want the people of St Kilda Rd - the businesses and the residents - to be more involved and engaged in it - that would be wonderful," she said. Ms Pinder-Mortimer, a former Miss Universe Australia, said she had a soft spot for Moomba from the times she entered the festival's beauty pageants as a teenager. "It holds a lot of strong memories for me," she said. Richmond football great Kevin Bartlett, who was King of Moomba in 1984, said it was a wonderful experience. "It was a great thrill because I'd grown up with Moomba as a kid," he said. Bartlett said his duties included opening factories, overseeing a tug of war competition and judging a pancake-throwing contest. I'd be dressed up in my royal cloak and crown and holding a sceptre. People would come up, I found they really enjoyed the fun of it," he said. Moomba, derived from an Aboriginal word, was first staged in 1955 and featured a procession, Henley rowing regatta, river floats, fireworks and cycling and tennis competitions. The notorious Birdman Rally, first introduced in 1976, will feature in next year's festival with a charity focus. A report to council for next Tuesday's Future Melbourne committee meeting said that the parade would have a 60th celebration theme. "The parade creative concept will be large-scale blocks of colour, noise, music, movement, energy and people/community," it said. Other features will include free entertainment programs, water skiing, sports events and nightly fireworks displays. The report said that Moomba injects more than $30 million into the local economy. overall theme of "listen, discover, play, look and taste."