{"id":83005,"date":"2022-03-17T04:56:11","date_gmt":"2022-03-16T17:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=83005"},"modified":"2022-03-17T09:58:48","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T22:58:48","slug":"harmony-fest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/harmony-fest\/","title":{"rendered":"City celebrates harmonious diversity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>HARMONY Fest is in full swing, celebrating and sharing everything vibrant about Ballarat\u2019s cultural diversity until Saturday, 26 March.<\/p>\n<p>Today, Thursday, 17 March, is St Patrick\u2019s Day, and a flag raising ceremony opposite the Town Hall at 10.30am will be one of the first events of the Fest, which is in its 12th year and all about inclusiveness, respect, and belonging for all residents and visitors.<\/p>\n<p>Islamic Society of Ballarat\u2019s Syed Umar said intercultural friendship and collaboration benefits everyone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we get to know people from other cultures we can assimilate better in the wider community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHarmony Fest helps us understand each other and get over some of the misconceptions people may have in some cases.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt serves the purpose of creating harmony amongst all the different people we have in Ballarat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Ballarat Welcome Centre is hosting an open day, and a twilight market today. Tomorrow, Friday, 18 March, the city\u2019s first peace pole will be installed at Sebastopol Primary School, and an intercultural celebration will be held at the Ballarat South Community Hub, with performances, workshops, and food.<\/p>\n<p>Saturday is jam-packed with tai chi by Lake Wendouree, a morning tea with the Islamic Society of Ballarat at the library, a Ballarat African Association multicultural panel talk at the Eureka Centre, Indian Film Festival screenings at the Regent, and the HOLI Festival of Colours at Victoria Park.<\/p>\n<p>This Sunday\u2019s events include a Eureka Centre talk on the Chinese Miners\u2019 Residence Tax Revolt of 1859, a Filipino Australian Association of Ballarat celebration at Victoria Park, an Interfaith Walk for Peace, and Ballarat Mosque Open Day.<\/p>\n<p>A flag-raising ceremony opposite the Town Hall will be held on Monday, 21 March, which is the official Harmony Day, before a second huge week of multiculturally rich events kick off including the Indian Food Festivals and the Intercultural City Extravaganza.<\/p>\n<p>Visit <strong>bit.ly\/3q3U8J5<\/strong> for the full program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HARMONY Fest is in full swing, celebrating and sharing everything vibrant about Ballarat\u2019s cultural diversity until Saturday, 26 March. Today, Thursday, 17 March, is St Patrick\u2019s Day, and a flag raising ceremony opposite the Town Hall at 10.30am will be one of the first events of the Fest, which is in its 12th year and [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/harmony-fest\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":83006,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-83005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>City celebrates harmonious diversity - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/harmony-fest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"City celebrates harmonious diversity - Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"HARMONY Fest is in full swing, celebrating and sharing everything vibrant about Ballarat\u2019s cultural diversity until Saturday, 26 March. Today, Thursday, 17 March, is St Patrick\u2019s Day, and a flag raising ceremony opposite the Town Hall at 10.30am will be one of the first events of the Fest, which is in its 12th year and [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/harmony-fest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-16T17:56:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-16T22:58:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/03\/IMG_7122-scaled-e1647328812467.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edwina Williams\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Edwina Williams\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/harmony-fest\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/harmony-fest\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Edwina Williams\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1679afe19d0c5817f387b660e66f07e9\"},\"headline\":\"City celebrates harmonious diversity\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-16T17:56:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-16T22:58:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/harmony-fest\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":322,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/harmony-fest\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/IMG_7122-scaled-e1647328812467.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/harmony-fest\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/harmony-fest\\\/\",\"name\":\"City celebrates harmonious diversity - Ballarat Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/harmony-fest\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/harmony-fest\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/IMG_7122-scaled-e1647328812467.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-16T17:56:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-16T22:58:48+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/harmony-fest\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/harmony-fest\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/harmony-fest\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/IMG_7122-scaled-e1647328812467.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/IMG_7122-scaled-e1647328812467.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":667,\"caption\":\"Together: Islamic Society of Ballarat\u2019s Syed Umar and Anam Shahab, BRMC\u2019s Joy Sawiche and Ann Foley, and Ballarat Malayalee Association\u2019s Lokan Ravi (back) are part of festivities. Photo: EDWINA WILLIAMS\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/harmony-fest\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"City celebrates harmonious diversity\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ballarat Times\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Ballarat Times\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/BALT.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/BALT.png\",\"width\":739,\"height\":98,\"caption\":\"Ballarat Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1679afe19d0c5817f387b660e66f07e9\",\"name\":\"Edwina Williams\",\"description\":\"Edwina Williams is the Times News Group's Northern Victoria editor covering the Ballarat Times News Group, Golden Plains Times, Moorabool News, Bendigo Times, and McIvor Times.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/emwilliamsjourno\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/author\\\/edwina\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"City celebrates harmonious diversity - Ballarat Times","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/harmony-fest\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"City celebrates harmonious diversity - Ballarat Times","og_description":"HARMONY Fest is in full swing, celebrating and sharing everything vibrant about Ballarat\u2019s cultural diversity until Saturday, 26 March. Today, Thursday, 17 March, is St Patrick\u2019s Day, and a flag raising ceremony opposite the Town Hall at 10.30am will be one of the first events of the Fest, which is in its 12th year and [...]Read More...","og_url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/harmony-fest\/","og_site_name":"Ballarat Times","article_published_time":"2022-03-16T17:56:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-03-16T22:58:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":667,"url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/03\/IMG_7122-scaled-e1647328812467.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Edwina Williams","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Edwina Williams","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/harmony-fest\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/harmony-fest\/"},"author":{"name":"Edwina Williams","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/person\/1679afe19d0c5817f387b660e66f07e9"},"headline":"City celebrates harmonious diversity","datePublished":"2022-03-16T17:56:11+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-16T22:58:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/harmony-fest\/"},"wordCount":322,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/harmony-fest\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/03\/IMG_7122-scaled-e1647328812467.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/harmony-fest\/","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/harmony-fest\/","name":"City celebrates harmonious diversity - Ballarat Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/harmony-fest\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/harmony-fest\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/03\/IMG_7122-scaled-e1647328812467.jpg","datePublished":"2022-03-16T17:56:11+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-16T22:58:48+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/harmony-fest\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/harmony-fest\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/harmony-fest\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/03\/IMG_7122-scaled-e1647328812467.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/03\/IMG_7122-scaled-e1647328812467.jpg","width":1000,"height":667,"caption":"Together: Islamic Society of Ballarat\u2019s Syed Umar and Anam Shahab, BRMC\u2019s Joy Sawiche and Ann Foley, and Ballarat Malayalee Association\u2019s Lokan Ravi (back) are part of festivities. Photo: EDWINA WILLIAMS"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/harmony-fest\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"City celebrates harmonious diversity"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/","name":"Ballarat Times","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization","name":"Ballarat Times","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2021\/10\/BALT.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2021\/10\/BALT.png","width":739,"height":98,"caption":"Ballarat Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/person\/1679afe19d0c5817f387b660e66f07e9","name":"Edwina Williams","description":"Edwina Williams is the Times News Group's Northern Victoria editor covering the Ballarat Times News Group, Golden Plains Times, Moorabool News, Bendigo Times, and McIvor Times.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/emwilliamsjourno\/"],"url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/author\/edwina\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83005"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=83005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}