Ballan Autumn Festival set for spring

WHILE it’s disappointing that the Ballan Autumn Festival has been postponed, organisers want to assure the public that when it’s back, it’ll be bigger than ever.

The community event is now set on Sunday, 18 October, making it the very first Ballan Autumn Festival in spring.

Superheroes will still be the theme of the day, with the parade, stalls, performances and workshops returning with the name change.

BAF! President Deryck Carruthers said Ballan is just as beautiful in spring, making the festival a very “moveable feast.”

“Looking on the bright side, the postponement means lots of extra time for people to work on their superhero costumes, practice their cake decorating and prepare even more spectacular floats for the parade,” he said.

With anxiety in the air about cancellation of the event, patrons, sponsors and stallholders were relieved to hear the festival would return.

Mr Caruthers said it will be great to have a social event at the end of the year, where nobody is excluded.

“We worked really hard to make sure that the festival is open to everybody, so with the public’s health and safety in mind, postponing was a good decision,”

“It’s not a community event if we say that we’re having a party, but if you’re immunocompromised you can’t come,” he said.

As the event attracts around 10,000 people annually, organisers believe that postponing the festival was necessary due to COVID-19.

For further information, visit ballanautumnfestival.org.

The announcement of the postponement of BAF!, made on Friday, 13 March, coincided with other event cancellations on the region due to COVID-19.

April’s Pyrenees Unearthed Wine + Food Festival and Rainbow Serpent Regen (which itself was a rescheduled event following the Lexton bushfire in January), and Clunes Booktown set for May, will also not go ahead.