Warming winter campaign launched

THERE are plenty of reasons to leave the house this winter, as the City of Greater Bendigo announced its winter tourism campaign, Ignite.

The main attraction is the new light installation series GLOW, coming to Rosalind Park from Saturday, 25 June.

GLOW is produced by Bendigo-based audio-visual company Power AV and creative director Alicia Villiers said it will be a “fully immersive light and sound display.”

“There’s going to be a tunnel of almost 600 Chinese lanterns, projection, sound and all different type of lights,” she said.

“We’ve worked closely with the Dja Dja Wurrung and local artists to bring the best of Bendigo to the park. We’re really excited to present that work to everyone who visits the park this year.”

The program also features a variety of experiences and events, such as Heathcote on Show over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, Bendigo Winegrowers Association’s wine barrel tasting on the first weekend of July, and the return of the Australian Sheep and Wool Show on Saturday, 15 July and Sunday, 16 July.

Winter craft beer festival, Bendigo on the Hop returns on Saturday, 27 August, and the program is rounded out by White Night on Saturday, 3 September.

The City’s manager of tourism and events Terry Karamaloudis said it’s important to keep the municipality’s events calendar full year-round.

“Our low points are few and far between which is good,” he said.

“The winter period we know it’s a bit harder to motivate people to get out… but if you’re throwing lots of things into the cauldron, you’re going to be sure to attract a significant number of people.

“We like to keep it really diverse to appeal to different sets of people. We think the winter program is really encouraging.”

Mr Karamaloudis said last year’s winter light display Awaken attracted 57,000 people over two weeks, with 30 per cent of visitors from outside the Greater Bendigo region.

GLOW is a paid ticketed event, in contrast to Awaken which was free, and Mr Karamaloudis said it’s because the COVID recovery funding that supported last year’s event are no longer available.