{"id":104135,"date":"2026-07-22T12:10:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T02:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/major-music-festival-leaves-ballarat-for-geelong\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T12:12:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T02:12:26","slug":"major-music-festival-leaves-ballarat-for-geelong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/major-music-festival-leaves-ballarat-for-geelong\/","title":{"rendered":"Major music festival leaves Ballarat for Geelong"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ballarat has lost one of its biggest music events, with Spilt Milk announcing on Wednesday it will relocate to Geelong until at least 2030.<\/p>\n

The move ends Ballarat’s four-edition run as the festival’s Victorian home<\/a> after hosting the event since 2019.<\/p>\n

Spilt Milk drew tens of thousands of music fans to the city and became a significant economic driver, generating an estimated $17.2 million for the local economy last year alone.<\/p>\n

The City of Ballarat<\/a> said it was disappointed to see the festival leave but proud of the role it had played in helping it grow.<\/p>\n

“We are sad to see it depart and understand that our local businesses and accommodation providers will be impacted by this announcement, but we will continue to actively pursue other major events to Ballarat,” Ballarat mayor Tracey Hargreaves said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The touring regional music festival has moved away from Ballarat and is locked in for Geelong until at least 2030. Photo: Jordan Munns.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Ballarat has consistently demonstrated its capacity to successfully host large-scale events, and we remain committed to building our reputation as one of regional Australia’s leading events destinations.”<\/p>\n

Cr Hargreaves said the city maintained a partnership with Spilt Milk organiser Kicks Entertainment, which had led to Ballarat’s Victoria Park being locked in for the Victorian leg of the Strummingbird country music festival in October<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“We are looking forward to being a part of Strummingbird\u2019s success and growth, as much as we have been for Spilt Milk,” she said.<\/p>\n

Spilt Milk was held in Ballarat four times after making its Victorian debut there in 2019, with attendance growing each year.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Ballarat hosted the first four Victorian editions of the touring Spilt Milk festival. Photo: MacKenzie Sweetnam.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The inaugural event attracted more than 28,500 people, while almost 39,000 attended last year’s festival, headlined by Kendrick Lamar. The event generated an estimated $17.2 million in economic benefit, with more than 34,100 attendees travelling from outside the region.<\/p>\n

Spilt Milk is also staged in Perth, Canberra and the Gold Coast and continues to attract a high-profile lineup of international and Australian acts, including sombr, Doechii, Post Malone, Lorde, Flume and Childish Gambino.<\/p>\n

The festival is usually held in December, but the date and lineup for this year’s event have not yet been announced.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ballarat has lost one of its biggest music events, with Spilt Milk announcing on Wednesday it will relocate to Geelong until at least 2030. The move ends Ballarat’s four-edition run as the festival’s Victorian home after hosting the event since 2019. Spilt Milk drew tens of thousands of music fans to the city and became […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":104136,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"featured_section_post":"","home_featured_section_post":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-104135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMajor music festival leaves Ballarat for Geelong - McIvor Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The move to Geelong ends Ballarat's four-edition run as Spilt Milk's Victorian home after hosting the event since 2019.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/major-music-festival-leaves-ballarat-for-geelong\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Major music festival leaves Ballarat for Geelong - 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