A feast of fun and flora at Begonia Festival

EACH year more than 60,000 people wander the Ballarat Botanical Gardens over the Labour Day long weekend and discover a multitude of fun family activities, enjoyable live entertainment, delicious local food and beautiful floral displays.

It’s all part of the Ballarat Begonia Festival.

Presented by the City of Ballarat, this year’s program has a number of exciting new offerings that look set to take your festival experience to new heights.

The 2019 festival features a range of activities for the whole family, including the return of the popular Super Sandpit and obstacle course, markets and Begonia Bar.

The line-up of entertainment, talks, culinary delights looks impressive, with celebrity guests including Get Grubby TV’s dirtgirl, River Cottage Australia host Paul West and the return of crowd favourite Costa Georgiadis.

But the beloved Begonia Festival would not be complete without the festival’s namesake, the Begonia Display.

Ballarat has a long history of begonias, which first appeared at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens in the late 1890s.

Gardeners at the time imported tuberous begonias from England, however, today the City of Ballarat’s dedicated gardeners now grow the popular plant by hand.

Planned 12 months in advance, this year’s Begonia Display features six hundred tuberous and non-tuberous Begonias from the City of Ballarat’s famous Begonia collection.

For the first time the display will also feature a tranquil water display landscaped with ferns from the City of Ballarat’s nursery, and the Begonia Towers which feature more than two hundred Begonia boliviensis Bossa Nova.

Continuing the begonia theme, the begonia-covered trams of yesteryear are set to make a comeback over the long weekend.

The Ballarat Tramway Museum has taken inspiration from the 1939 floral tram, which was originally decorated by hundreds of crepe paper flowers, by creating 21st century flowers using single-use plastic bags and bottle.

It’s not the only environmentallyfriendly event at this year’s festival with Community Partner Central Highlands Water hosting a number of activities that look at the impacts of plastic waste on the environment.

The Ballarat Begonia Festival will be held over the Labour Day long weekend, 9-11 March, at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens between 10am-5pm daily.

The popular Power FM Begonia Parade takes place along Wendouree Parade from 11am on Monday, 11 March.

For further details, visit ballaratbegoniafestival.com 2019 Begonia Festival highlights include:

• Power FM Begonia Parade (along Wendouree Parade) from 11am, Monday 11 March
• Begonia Display in the conservatory
• Hear from our special celebrity guests Paul West (River Cottage Australia), dirtgirl (Get Grubby TV) and Costa Georgiadis (Gardening Australia)
• Live entertainment across four music stages
• 26 food and coffee outlets including the Forge Pizzeria in the Begonia Courtyard
• Quench your thirst in the Begonia Bar with local beers from Red Duck Brewery and Cubby Haus Brewing, wines from Wightwick and gin from Kilderkin Distillery
• Learn about environmental sustainability with Central Highlands Water
• Circus Drop Zone – an intergenerational entertainment space where visitors can learn to juggle or ride a unicycling, or alternatively view performances on a six-metre-high trapeze
• Floral Tram
• Obstacle Course with ninja trainers
• Super Sandpit
• Pot-A-Plant Activities with BotaniKids
• Paint with the Society of Artists and Funky Plaster Fun
• Story Time with the Ballarat Foundation every hour
• Stems Greenery photo wall
• Floral Carousel by the Floral Art Group
• Garden Trail Competition to win a $3,000 travel voucher from Flight Centre
• Gardener’s and Creative Designer’s Markets
• Friends of the Botanical Gardens Plant Sales Nursery
• Fish Hatchery Tours
• Spinners and Weavers demonstrations
• Ballarat Woodworkers Guild Exhibition