Conservation blooms at Begonia Festival

BALLARAT’s Begonia Festival begins tomorrow with thousands of people expected to attend the three-day event at the Botanical Gardens.

This year’s festival will centre around conservation, and for the first time on the Australian East Coast, attendees can see interactive performance The Last Numbat on the main lawn.

Created by Spare Parts Puppet Theatre with designer and puppet maker Leon Hendroff, the large-scale performance uses puppetry to tell the story of the endangered species.

“It is a story for children and their families, young and old,” Mr Hendroff said.

“I create these sorts of works to inspire and bring joy and hope to communities.

“[The Numbat] kind of grabbed us by the heart so we wanted to bring this story of caring for the environment to the community.”

Participants learn how to operate the puppet, which is made from garden materials, and work together to tell the story.

“It’s the thrill of performing a giant puppet,” Mr Hendorff said.

“People get to see them at a distance quite often but are not allowed to touch so this is a special opportunity.”

On the main stage, Black Cat Truffles’ Liam Downes will demonstrate how he takes fresh ingredients from paddock to plate.

He will be making eggs benedict and tortellini with both dishes highlighting truffles and local produce.

“People do get intimated by the cost and how to use [truffles] so that is something we’ll showcase pretty heavily, how we use truffle and how it can be really simple,” said Downes.

“It’s a good opportunity for me to show what we do out at the farm but to showcase Ballarat as well because I’m sure there’ll be a lot of visitors who come to town.”

Other main stage highlights will be TV personality Costa Georgiadis, environmental educator Millie Ross, and Bundjalung woman and MasterChef Australia alumna Mindy Wood.

For families, there will be a variety of free activities including Integra’s tiny town, horticultural workshops, rock climbing, a sports zone, giant garden games and trash puppet workshops.

On Monday 10 March, from 11am the traditional parade will return commencing at the Ballarat Tramway Museum, travelling down Wendouree Parade to conclude near the North Gardens.

To view the full program, visit the Ballarat Begonia Festival website.