Picture perfect public transport

THE 2019 iteration of the Floral Tram has been officially unveiled ahead of 67th Ballarat Begonia Festival.

Over 3000 hand crafted flowers made from plastic bottles and bags and other reclaimed materials have been attached outside of the tram.

Those flowers represent 12 months of planning and creating by 120 volunteers from across the region’s community groups.

Floral Tram Project Coordinator Pamela Waugh said once word got about the plans for this year’s tram, everyone wanted to be involved.

“It was a really grass roots project,” she said. “People would come along to a workshop and then they would get really excited and they would go out to a group they were involved with and get them to make stuff as well.

“We ran 12 planned workshop and then we had an off shoot of another 27 workshops that went out and worked with other groups.

“It was all sorts of groups like the Ballan CWA and Sing Australia, and BRI – Ballarat Regional Industries and lots of school groups.”

With the tram now on the tracks, Ms Waugh was very happy with how it looked rolling down Wendouree Parade.

“It’s fantastic, I’m blown away,” she said.

On Sunday, the tram rolled out of the sheds at Ballarat Tramway Museum for its maiden public journey.

It was greeted by a large crowd at the passing loop near Pipers where the official launch and ribbon cutting took place.

The Ballarat Begonia Festival is set for 9 to 11 March.