Summer Sunday’s is set to return

AFTER a tumultuous year for the music industry, the City of Ballarat’s Summer Sundays is set to return early next year.

Although typically held each Sunday in January at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens, this year the concert series will be taking place at a range of different locations.

In order, each week a range of local and national talent will play between 2.30pm to 5pm from 10 January at Sovereign Hill, then the Ballarat Wildlife Park and finally at Kryal Castle.

With a star-studded list of headliners including Clare Bowditch, Ella Hooper and the Ross Wilson Trio set to bring in huge audiences, the organisers of the show also made sure to highlight some grassroots and emerging artists from the region.

Playing the 17 January show at the Wildlife Park, local singer, songwriter and musician Connor Toomey said it’s an exciting home-grown event that he’s looking forward to being a part of.

“Although I’ve been to a lot, I haven’t played a Summer Sundays before… I’m just stoked to play a real show again,” he said.

“Not sure how it’s going to be set up, but I imagine it’s going to be near the kangaroos… I’ll have to learn some Australian classics and get the kangaroos up and about.

“It’s definitively a demographic I don’t usually play to so that’s great to diversify my audience and that they’re letting local artists have a crack as well so it’s not just all huge acts.”

For those who can’t make the events in person, each Summer Sunday concert will be live streamed through the event’s Facebook page to showcase both the diverse talent and Ballarat’s attractions.

On the line-up for the 24 January Kryal Castle show, Ballarat’s own soulful singer Candi Wade said while this year is going to be different to previous years she’s played, she said it’s still going to be great.

“I’m just really excited and it’s cool to see that it’s going to be at different places rather than just around the lake,” she said.

“My dad’s played at Kryal Castle before so I’m really excited for the opportunity to play there.

“It’s more important now to support live and local music than it ever was before, and it will be cool to have people at Kryal Castle, the Wildlife Park and Sovereign Hill because they’re such local venues.”

Stay tuned for more information and ticketing details for the event at facebook.com/summersundaysballarat.