Heritage Fest takes top tourism award

ONE of the city’s biggest drawcards, the Ballarat Heritage Festival, has won a Victorian Tourism Award.

Heritage Fest serves as celebration of the region’s history and now the 2021 event has taken home the top prize in the Festival and Events category.

City of Ballarat CEO Evan King said the award highlights the efforts of the event’s organisers, with the festival expanded to four weeks last year despite the pandemic.

“The Ballarat Heritage Festival has gone from strength to strength, and I am thrilled it has been recognised with a gold trophy in these prestigious awards,” he said.

“This major award is not only recognition of the festival itself, but the hard work of our teams, particularly the events department, in ensuring it continued during a period of intense lockdowns and uncertainty in the market last year.

“I’m proud of how we have great people who work hard to ensure our community and businesses can have some optimism that events were being kept alive in 2021 and will hopefully thrive again in 2022.”

The Ballarat Heritage Festival began in 2006 as a weekend-long event before expanding to four weeks last year as a way of allowing more people to attend while adhering to COVID restrictions.

Major exhibits and activities like the Tweed Ride and Fashions on the Field event, train rides by Steamrail Victoria, celebrations of First Nations Culture and much more.

The Heritage Festival’s next iteration will begin on Friday, 20 May, and access will vary from free admission to ticketed events.