Ballarat is Winter Festival ready
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As we head into the second day of spring, Ballarat breaks from regional city rivalry to congratulate Bendigo on its colourful, successful and well-attended White Night 2018.
Ballarat also stands at the ready as Visit Victoria announces that White Night will now become part of a three-day winter festival in August in Melbourne.
The temperatures might dip low, but spirits and the warmth of regional communities celebrating winter was been high for many years. Ballarat is flushed with winter tourism offerings, with record crowds attending the 2018 Ballarat Winter Festival and Winter Wonderlights at Sovereign Hill.
Ballarat is no stranger to excitement and fun in the coldest months of the year, with food, wine, art and culture taking centre stage. As well as Ballarat Winter Festival and Winter Wonderlights, the city played host to the successful Plate Up Ballarat, the Salumi and Charcuterie Festival, Ballarat’s own Potato Festival and successful Red Wine Series. In 2018, the Art Gallery of Ballarat welcomed paintings from the Musee de la Chartreuse in France for its Into Light exhibition, which is showing until next Sunday.
Looking ahead, Ballarat is about to stage the inaugural Biennale of Australian Art, which will be the largest ever showcase of living Australian artists. And 2019 also sees the return of the highly-popular Ballarat Foto Biennale.
“Following the success of White Night Ballarat and Bendigo and the inevitable success of White Night Geelong, we look forward to partnering with regional cities, Visit Victoria and the state government to secure regional Victoria’s rightful place in the planned Winter Festival 2019,” City of Ballarat Deputy Mayor Cr Daniel Moloney said.
“Clearly the state government knows that Victorians and our visitors love all that our state has to offer in winter, including a vibrant food and wine, and art and culture scene.
“As proven leaders in this space, Ballarat stands ready as a regional drawcard to the proposed Winter Festival and looks forward to any announcements Visit Victoria may have in store for the continuation of major regional events like White Night.
“The City of Ballarat is proud to provide significant financial and in-kind support to exciting regional winter events like White Night Ballarat, Ballarat Winter Festival and the Biennale of Australian Art and we look forward to this continuing in the future.”