TWO events in February are shaping up to provide the ultimate weekend of beers and music.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Then, on Sunday, 20 February, punters can enjoy the best of the funk and soul scene Victoria has to offer at the first Funk \u2018n\u2019 Fest.<\/p>\n
Festival director Ric Dexter said he is excited for the two events after Funk \u2018n\u2019 Fest was postponed from February this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cFunk \u2018n\u2019 Fest is going to be a rollicking, dancing, hip time,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just going to be a fantastic show.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a fairly new genre to put on something like this, I would say there\u2019s 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\u201d Mr Dexter said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s 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\u2019re just hoping this gathers some momentum, there\u2019s some really great sounds coming out of these bands.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mr Dexter said he hopes to \u201ccement Ballarat as the regional hub of craft beer in Victoria, if not Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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\u2019re spending up in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTypically, we bring between $600,000 to $800,000 into the local economy over that weekend, which with Funk \u2018n\u2019 Fest added in should increase.<\/p>\n