Big bonfire to warm up Harcourt

IF your in-home heating isn’t keeping you warm enough this winter season, Shedshaker Brewing and Harcourt Valley Vineyard’s upcoming community bonfire event just might.

Scheduled for 20 June from 4pm to 8pm, the Harcourt winter solstice bonfire returns for its second instalment and director of Shedshaker Brewing Jacqueline Brodie-Hanns said there will be something for everyone to enjoy.

“It is a very family friendly event notwithstanding it’s at a winery and it is a licensed event, so we have a selection of beers from Shedshaker Brewing and wines from Harcourt Valley,” she said.

“The catering will all be provided by local food businesses from Harcourt so there will be food trucks and there will be kids entertainment.

“We really encourage people to make a night of it with their family and bring their kids along.”

The bonfire will be made up of organic waste generated by the vineyard, with Harcourt CFA volunteers on site to keep attendees safe.

As well as warming up the community, Ms Brodie-Hanns said the event promotes collaboration between a variety of industries in the region.

“This is a really good win-win, it’s about giving the community something that’s really accessible and brings people together, but it also supports local business.”

An eight-piece Balkan brass band, The Seduceaphones, will provide the evening’s music, and Ms Brodie-Hanns said money made from ticket sales will go towards entertainers.

“Money that people pay for the tickets will go to support local creatives and that’s really important because we know that musicians have lost a lot of work with the COVID restrictions.”

Ms Brodie-Hanns said the winter solstice bonfire, first held in 2019, began in response to a community wide consultation on economic development for the area conducted by Mount Alexander Shire.

“We did this because the people of Harcourt had identified that they wanted to see more seasonal celebrations because it is such a productive agricultural food bowl with wineries, with cideries, with orchids and also with vegetable growers.

“It came out very strongly as a key community aspiration so that’s the sort of thing we’re trying to do with these events.”

Tickets to the winter solstice bonfire can be booked at trybooking.com/brfoy, and kids’ entry is free.