Festival flowering with family fun

THE iconic Ballarat Begonia Festival is ready to bloom this Labour Day long weekend, 7 to 9 March.

With something for all ages, the free weekend at the Botanical Gardens will feature stunning floral displays, kids activities, entertainment, presentations, gardening tips, food, famous faces, crafts and markets.

Peter Marquand, City of Ballarat curator of parks and nursery said the begonias within the Robert Clark Conservatory were first potted between August and September.

“I’m loving the display, particularly the middle part. It’s going to look staggering once we get all the begonias on the benches. The straight lines really show them off, you get this mass of colour,” he said.

“I’m actually blown away by how fantastic the gardens look this year. The cool summer suited us, our lawns are the best that I’ve seen them at this time of year, and the garden beds look perfect.”

A major community sponsor of the Begonia Festival for more than 15 years, Central Highlands Water will be involved bringing a ‘Smart, Safe and Sustainable’ focus.

With International Women’s Day on the festival Sunday, CHW is shining a light on women in water. Innovation from scientists, including biologists, chemists, engineers and environmental specialists, keeps Ballarat enjoying safe, clean drinking water, and many of those experts at CHW are women.

The gardens’ main lawn is the base for a water play feature, where children can discover the water and wastewater roles CHW plays in the city, and can investigate where water comes from and where it goes.

Looking to problem solve when it comes to single use plastic waste, CHW will have their stainless-steel drink bottles on site, selling to raise funds for WRISC family violence support.

As something different, festival goers can take a slow, peaceful, mindful moment in the gardens to read how local and regional creatives feel about environmental issues, amongst the lush green surrounds.

An initiative of Jennie Fraine, a local poet, the Poet Tree encourages visitors to engage with 80 curated pieces of poetry by 40 writers, from social commentary on current affairs, to memories. They are set to be hung from a tree on lawns just south of the Prime Ministers’ Avenue.

MasterChef royalty is coming to the gardens, too. On Sunday, beloved TV cook and artist, Poh Ling Yeow, star of the reality show’s first season and her own series, Poh’s Kitchen, will be presenting a cooking masterclass.

Set to inspire with her love of recipe creation and of course, food, Ling Yeow will have Ballarat’s own MasterChef success story, Tim Bone of Tim’s Toasties, and season 11 contestant, Anushka Zargaryan with her. Anushka boasts a cooking style that fuses Iranian, Russian and Armenian food.

A favourite with older and younger crowds, Gardening Australia’s Gosta Georgiadis is back for another festival, with fellow GA host, Sophie Thomson.

They’ll be live on the Begonia Stage to discuss their passions for plants, and how to have holistic, sustainable, productive approaches to gardening. Georgiadis and Thomson will be chatting to Ballarat Backyard Beekeeping about making honey at home.

Georgiadis will change into his gnome attire to have fun with Dirtgirl and little festival goers at the Get Grubby Bucket Challenge, and more ABC faces, Bluey and Bingo are coming to visit on Monday.

Grampians Central West Waste and Resource Recovery Group are ‘Keeping it Local’ this year, exploring the idea of thinking globally and acting locally, with tips, demos and workshops covering worm farming, composting, plastic and waste reduction, and recycling.

The colourful, annual Begonia Parade, showcasing the city’s vibrant community groups, is set for 11am on Monday, travelling along Wendouree Parade’s west side between Carlton Street and St Aidans Drive.

Head to ballaratbegoniafestival.com for more information.