Take a peek at these Christmas stories

OVER the last decade, the City’s Floral Reindeer installation has become an iconic staple of Christmas in Ballarat.

This year there’s even more festive flair to delight; whether you have children to entertain, or you’re just taking a wander on a warm summer evening.

Sturt Street is home to plenty of glittery stations including a giant bauble and shooting star, a Gingerbread House with its own Christmas window, and stars representing the constellation known to Ngarrandjeri people as Nunganari; a stingray.

Local artists Emily Van Der Molen, Evelyn Meikle, Margie Balazic, Zlatko Balazic, Deborah Lee Klein and Steph Wallace have also been commissioned to tell Our Stories through 12 colourful, shining window displays.

Van Der Molen is the creator of retro tram-themed Christmas windows, Santa’s Showboat – 1968 at Parent Place and The Myer Christmas Tram – 1967 on Armstrong Street south.

“My favourite window is Santa’s Showboat; a tram dressed up as a paddle steamer, which I think is so very Ballarat, while being perfectly quirky,” she said.

Her process is an intricate one, painting, cutting and assembling shapes by hand at home to create vibrant and exciting festive scenes, before reassembling the work on-site.

“I really love creating worlds and get completely drawn into the process. There were quite a few mornings spent making baubles and birds over breakfast,” Van Der Molen said.

Last year, she had work in windows on Lydiard Street. In 2020, she’d planned to work outside her comfort zone with muted tones, but reverted back to her happy place, “full psychedelic sixties.”

She’s passionate about making this kind of “magic” that entices and marvels an audience.

“The little faces pressed to the glass, watching families in awe as they take in all the details… That’s what my job as an artist is, bringing people joy and wonder, especially at Christmas.”

Head to visitballarat.com.au/christmas-ballarat for a map.