February festivals get funky

TWO events in February are shaping up to provide the ultimate weekend of beers and music.

Scheduled for Saturday, 19 February the 11th annual Ballarat Beer Festival will see some 35 brewers on display, with a plethora of food, local wines, gins, seltzers and music on offer.

Then, on Sunday, 20 February, punters can enjoy the best of the funk and soul scene Victoria has to offer at the first Funk ‘n’ Fest.

Festival director Ric Dexter said he is excited for the two events after Funk ‘n’ Fest was postponed from February this year.

“Funk ‘n’ Fest is going to be a rollicking, dancing, hip time,” he said. “It’s just going to be a fantastic show.”

The line-up includes soul and blues outfit Moreland City Soul Revue, blues band Lake Minnetonka, all-women group Women of Soul and soul diva Kylie Auldist.

“It’s a fairly new genre to put on something like this, I would say there’s a fair amount of interest particularly amongst a female audience, it really is a dancing type of show, people want to get up and groove to the tunes” Mr Dexter said.

“It’s a bit of a risk because it is a fairly restrictive genre, whereas the Beer Fest we put on a whole range of music, something for everybody. We’re just hoping this gathers some momentum, there’s some really great sounds coming out of these bands.”

The music line-up for Beer Fest features indie band Cold Irons Board, blues rock group White Lightning, country rock band Cartridge Family and recently announced headliner and ARIA Hall of Famer Russel Morris.

Mr Dexter said he hopes to “cement Ballarat as the regional hub of craft beer in Victoria, if not Australia.”

“The other thing is we bring a lot of people into Ballarat, about 50 to 60 per cent of people come from outside of Ballarat, a lot of them stay the night so they’re spending up in the region.”

“Typically, we bring between $600,000 to $800,000 into the local economy over that weekend, which with Funk ‘n’ Fest added in should increase.

It all takes place at North Gardens, and tickets are available at funknfest.com.au and ballaratbeerfestival.com.au, with weekend passes available.