Packed schedule to heat up winter

THE City of Greater Bendigo’s Ignite Winter campaign was launched last week with the switch flicked on Electric Wonderland in Rosalind Park.

During the rest of the season, Bendigo will host exhibitions, concerts, festivals, markets and more to keep people entertained through the colder weather.

The City’s manager of tourism and major events Glen Harvey said it was exciting to get the program underway.

“Electric Wonderland is a great start to the winter program and it’ll run for a couple of months,” he said.

“There are also a lot of well-known events coming back such as the Australian Sheep and Wool Show and Bendigo on the Hop, which has sold over a thousand tickets already.

“We’ve got lots of experiences that are happening. Hargreaves Mall has got some entertainment throughout the winter months, with things like bush bands and a whole range of other programs.”

Mr Harvey said introducing a larger winter schedule was part of a municipal strategy.

“The idea is we put on a whole range of things that’ll keep people here and they can track them over winter,” he said. “We are expecting a busy school holiday.

“We’ve been working hard the last couple of years to build the winter program, we see it as an option to grow, as traditionally autumn and spring are our busiest times of the year.”

Electric Wonderland will light up Rosalind Park for the next couple of months as part of the program and creator Grant Villiers said a lot of work and equipment had gone into setting it up.

“It’s basically seven days’ worth of work,” he said. “There’s been 15 staff on and off to set it up.

“There are too many lights to count. There must be 14,000 sorts of globes and lights and everything else in between to make it all happen, there are also 22 smoke machines as we walk through.”

The full Ignite Winter program can be found at bendigoregion.com.au.