A FESTIVAL celebrating the Hindu god Ganesh is returning to the region from today.<\/p>\n
Hosted by members of the Ballarat Hindu Temple and Cultural Centre, the Grand Ganesh Festival will run for free throughout the weekend until this Sunday.<\/p>\n
BHTCC president Pradush Narayanan said much like last year\u2019s debut, the event will feature a full program of activities.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the first day we\u2019ll have cultural awareness programs for kids to educate and have that awareness,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019ll be lots of singing, dancing, free food. Friday night there will be fireworks, and Saturday will have a showcase with lots of performances.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll have made a Ganesh idol which will be immersed in water on Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year\u2019s event was billed as the first regional Australian Ganesh festival, which Mr Narayanan said drew in 7000 people.<\/p>\n
He said the first event\u2019s success showed regional communities are capable of putting on grand multicultural festivals just as well as metropolitan areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we found is a lot of people from regional districts like Ballarat, Geelong, Maryborough and Bendigo attended the programs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was our big success because every time people want to go celebrate something like this they think they have to go out to Melbourne to do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to put this on again because of the response from last time. Even six months ago we thought we were coming back smaller-scale but the demand was there\u201d<\/p>\n
BHTCC\u2019s Grand Ganesh Festival will be held at Ballarat High School and for program details visit the organisation\u2019s website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A FESTIVAL celebrating the Hindu god Ganesh is returning to the region from today. Hosted by members of the Ballarat Hindu Temple and Cultural Centre, the Grand Ganesh Festival will run for free throughout the weekend until this Sunday. BHTCC president Pradush Narayanan said much like last year\u2019s debut, the event will feature a full […]<\/p>\n