BEGONIA Bar is back by popular demand to showcase Ballarat’s growing foodie scene.
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Forge Pizzeria is set to run festival flavours in the courtyard behind the Robert Clark Conservatory for the annual Ballarat Begonia Festival on the Labor Day long weekend.
The menu is set to serve up a variety of savoury options, delicious sweets and coffee throughout the gardens, this year also featuring beers from Red Duck Brewery and Cubby Haus Brewing, wines from Wightwick and gin from Kilderkin Distillery.
Forge Pizzeria owner Tim Matthews said with so many visitors set to travel to Ballarat to enjoy the Begonia festivities it was a great chance to give a taste of the region.
“Ballarat punches above its weight when it comes to major events and our presence will hopefully let visitors know that the local foodie scene is growing strong,” Mr Matthews said.
“We hope that locals will bring their visitors along to the Courtyard where they can relax on the lawn enjoying fresh wood-fired pizza made with the region’s freshest produce.”
Ballarat mayor Samantha McIntosh said the festival has always been about bringing the Ballarat community together and developing the foodie culture helped take the festival up a notch.
This year’s key festival theme is sustainability with a five-metre giant turtle as the centrepiece, collecting single-use water bottles as a symbol of how plastic can damage the environment and natural water habitats.
Gardening Australia’s Costa “the garden gnome” Georgiadis and popular children’s sustainability champion dirtgirl will return for fun demonstrations and activity.
Ballarat Tramway Museum is also working to recreate the historic floral tram. It will be the first time a floral tram will be used at the Ballarat Begonia Festival since the 1930s.
Community volunteers have been busy in a series of workshops in creating plastic flowers from recyclables.
Ballarat Begonia Festival is a free festival in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens from March 9-11.
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