ROCKABILLY has rocked our world for a fifth consecutive year and once again underpins what this city can do best – bring history to life.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Sovereign Hill takes us back into a living gold rush era on Main Street. Kryal Castle jostles for attention with its medieval jousting, swashbuckling knights, fair maidens and touch of fantasy.
We are the home of Doctor Blake and his puzzling murder mysteries that seem to infiltrate our streets in a 1950s time warp.
And we can rock ‘n roll it with the best.
Hotted up chromed machines lined our streets where, right in the heart of the city, Ballarat Beat Rockabilly Festival turned this city into one big fashion and dance party channelling the early ‘50s.
Taking a walk down these memory lanes and most people you speak with have made the journey to Ballarat to be part of the bright, colourful and fun action. Plus, you know it is an important party when Australia’s beloved doo-woppers Ol’55 take to the stage, then promote how the whole town was alive with rock ‘n roll on the band’s official social media platforms.
It is worth reminding how much events like this matter in bringing people to Ballarat, particularly in luring people away from the beach to our city in the summer.
Rockabilly builds on and reinforces a strong string of festival events this season, including Cycling Australia Road National Championships, Ballarat Beer Festival and the Australian Jazz Festival, which returned a second-straight year because performers enjoyed the vibe so much.
Festivals like these give tourists a taste of what this city – and region – can offer and leave them coming back for more.
For locals, put aside the traffic irritations this may cause to routine, festivals like Rockabilly can offer a new perspective about Ballarat streets with the lively characters they inevitably bring, their excitement to be here and in the ways places we visit or pass all the time adapt to the event.
But we cannot afford to rest on our laurels.
We need to give people a reason to keep returning year after year to festivals, not just for a little of the same, but for the extra elements that keep making festivals better than the year before. A key part of this is community support. Even if you do not want to grease your hair, hand jive or glam up as Pin-Up, just enjoy the show. Festivals make Ballarat an event for a weekend, but promote the region as a destination to return and keep exploring any time.