Mayor’s Message - Friday 17 May 2024

The flagship Ballarat Heritage Festival launches this weekend and will run through to 26 May 2024.  

The uniquely Ballarat event provides a great opportunity for us to showcase our complex and rich history each year.  

Ballarat Heritage Festival is a fast-growing 10-day event featuring a program that offers authentic and contemporary heritage products – strengthening Ballarat’s position as a leading heritage destination in Regional Australia.  

Importantly, the Ballarat Heritage Festival drives both weekend and mid-week visitation to the Ballarat region.

Last year about 35,000 people attended the festival and 60 per cent of these were visiting friends and family of our local community members.  

We also saw last year that overnight stays increased by 39 per cent and more than $3.6 million was spent in Ballarat across the two weekends.  

In 2024, the festival has been programmed to encourage people to come out at night and to stay longer. This year’s event is bigger and better than ever before.

For the first time, we are excited to bring you the projection Monuments exhibition by Craig Walsh which is set to light up Sturt Street.  

I encourage you to head out to see the three local community members featured in this exhibition, all of whom share their celebrated heritage stories.  

Monuments is sure to captivate audiences every night throughout the festival.

There is plenty to enjoy over the 10 days, such as Victorian Opera’s Parrwang Lifts the Sky and a special talk at the Eureka Centre with John Saffran.  

Plenty of favourites will return, such as the steam trains, vintage car show, antiques fair, the Craft Lab and Heritage Harvest weekend at Sovereign Hill.  

Don’t forget to check out the full program and plan your visit at ballaratheritagefestival.com.au

- Mayor Cr Des Hudson