Sovereign Hill Christmas in July: Winter Wonderlights
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Daily, June 29 to July 21
Sovereign Hill from 10am daily until July 21. Cost $62 adults, $27.80 children (5-15), $49.70 concession, $157 family and $112 single family.
All your Christmases will come at once with the return of Sovereign Hill's Christmas in July: Winter Wonderlights, from Saturday 29 June until Sunday 21 July, 2019. During the day visitors can enjoy fun-filled pantomimes and theatre performances, join in Christmas-themed arts and crafts, stock up on traditional Christmas decorations, sample our delicious, limited edition Winter Wonderlights lemon meringue drops, and try to catch the cheeky Gingerbread man. Faux snow will fall at regular intervals over the Victorian-style buildings and the smell of Christmas treats will fill the air as visitors are swept up in the excitement of a special European-style Christmas.
By night, listen to live music, dance in the faux snowfalls and watch on as Sovereign Hill is transformed with an incredible new light projection show.
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Ballarat Winter Festival - WinterActive Arcade
June 29-30 and July 13-14
Ballarat Mining Exchange between 11am and 5pm. Cost $10 adults, $5 child 6-16, free under 6. Buy tickets here or on the door.
Get your game on! We're bringing Drone Legion, a massive multiplayer game of Snake and not to mention retro gaming and old-school arcade machines.
For the tech lovers, you can immerse yourself in our AR (augmented reality) exhibition - join Nixi Killick, through a Skype video and find out about her inspiring approach to design, creativity and her fashion featuring augmented reality.
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Beauty and the Beast
Until July 7
Wendouree Centre for the Performing Arts, 1220 Howitt St. Shows Tuesday-Sunday at 7.30pm with matinees each Saturday and Sunday. Cost $45 adult, $39 concession, $34 child (under 16), $120 family (2 x 2) and extra children $24. Buy tickets here.
BLOC Musical Theatre performs Beauty and the Beast, a musical with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, and book by Linda Woolverton. Adapted from Walt Disney Pictures' Academy Award-winning 1991 animated musical film of the same name - which in turn had been based on the classic French fairy tale by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, Beauty and the Beast tells the story of a cold-blooded prince who has been magically transformed into an unsightly creature as punishment for his selfish ways. To revert into his true human form, the Beast must first learn to love a bright, beautiful young woman whom he has imprisoned in his enchanted castle before it is too late.
See who's working on it here.
Kids' pizza classes
Saturdays - June 29, July 6 and 13
Carboni's Italian Kitchen, 152 Eureka Street between 11am and 4pm. Cost $39. Buy tickets here.
Now that school is over for another term, get your kids down to Carboni's for a fun pizza-making class! From dough making to stratching, from topping to eating!
Ticket includes pizza class, lunch with pizza and chips, soft drink, a nice little present and lots of fun.
Parents will enjoy a complimentary glass of wine (or alternative) while their kids are having fun learning new skills.
Ballarat Winter Festival: ice skating
Daily, June 29 to July 21
Pop-up ice skating rink, Armstrong Street next to Town Hall. Open 9am to 10pm daily. General skating sessions cost $10 child (age 2-14), $16 adult (age 15+), $40 family. Themed neon disco session cost $12 child, $18 adult and $48 family. Buy tickets here.
Nothing brightens up a grey winter's day like neon does, and when you add disco music and ice skates to the mix, it's a recipe for a fun day out with family and friends. The pop-up ice skating rink returns with new experiences in 2019 including one-hour Neon Disco sessions, learn to skate sessions and exclusive rink hire.
Eight one-hour session will be held on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesday between 9am and 8.30pm, and Thursday to Saturday there will be nine one-hour sessions between 9am and 10pm, with Neon Disco sessions at 7.30pm and 9pm.
Learn to skate sessions are held at 9am on Saturdays.
Ballarat Winter Festival: Activated ArtWalk
Daily until July 28
Police Lane, Queen Alexandra Bandstand, McKenzie St, Titanic Memorial bandstand, Grenville St, Town Hall Lane.
The Ballarat Activated ArtWalk encourages visitors to learn the hidden stories of the laneways, buildings and streets of Ballarat and the people that have lived, love and continue to make the tales of Ballarat. Walk the streets of Ballarat and bring six special artworks to life through your smartphone by downloading the Eye Jack app.
La Boheme
June 29 and 30.
The Minerva Space, Ballaarat Mechanics Institute, Sturt Street at 7.30pm. Cost $35. More information here.
Produced in collaboration between The Savoy Opera Company, Opera van Diemensland, Cordelia's Potted Operas, Ballarat Centre of Music & the Arts and The Melbourne Chamber Choir, La Boheme will feature international artist and Opera Australia tenor Martin Thomas Buckingham and a host of young Ballarat singers.
Ballarat Road Rodders Swap Meet
June 30
Central Square Shopping Centre car park, 18 Armstrong Street, between 6am and noon. Public entry $5; $20 per stall. No bookings - just show up, line up, and rug up.
The Ballarat Road Rodders' 44th annual swap meet is on again. Better known as the Fridge Swap Meet (due to the multi-story car park and Ballarat's winter temperatures). Come and check out the cars or search for that hard to find item. There is a two-metre height restriction on vehicles entering, and roof top parking is available for chrome bumper vehicles.
Futsal holiday clinic
July 1 and 2.
Ballarat Futsal Centre, 36 Grandlee Dve, Wendouree. 9am to 3pm. One day $55, two days $100.
Jinga Futsal will host a two-day futsal holiday clinic for children interested in sharpening their skills for the fast-paced indoor soccer game. Register here.
AGB Kids - Kids Bites and Art Camp
July 1-4 and July 8.
Art Gallery of Ballarat. Art Bites $80 or $60 for gallery members; Art Camp $160 or $130 for members.
School holidays are a good time to explore creativity and keep boredom at bay and the Art Gallery of Ballarat has two programs running these holidays.
Art Bites is a full-day school holiday program for children aged five to seven in which children will explore the materials and techniques used to create artworks on the gallery's walls.
On July 1 children will look at Modernist sculpture, reflecting the Becoming Modern exhibition currently on show, and on July 8 the little artists will tackle abstract landscape painting and collage.
Older children can let their imaginations run wild during a three-day Art Camp, running from July 2 to 4, during which they will explore the gallery collection, experiment with materials and techniques, and create finished artworks for a pop-up exhibition.
Kryal Castle: Knights of Fire
June 29 - July 14.
121 Forbes Rd, Leigh Creek. Daily 10am to 4pm. Child $22, adult $35, family $99. Tickets here.
The spectacular Knights of Fire returns to Kryal Castle for the winter school holidays. A daily highlight is the spectacular Joust of The Flame as Sir Hector meets Sir Reynard in a fiery clash of flaming lances and swords on the castle's main arena. The breathtaking fire jump as part of the Skill At Arms display will leave you in awe.
Tigers at Ballarat Wildlife Park
Daily.
9am-5pm. 250 Fussell St, Ballarat East. Cost $35 adults, $29 concession, $19.50 children (age 5-15), $95 family.
Ballarat has joined the fight to save the Sumatran tiger from extinction and the Ballarat Wildlife Park is now home to Sumatran tigers Maneki and Satu. It's estimated less than 500 of the species remain in the wild due to the clearing of natural habitat and poaching. Part of a global species management plan, the Ballarat tigers are ambassadors for helping their cousins survive in the wild through education programs and conservation initiatives.
The Lamington Man
July 10-13
July 10-11 at 11am and 2pm; July 12 at 11am and 7.30pm; July 13 7.30pm. Creswick Courthouse Theatre, 4A Raglan St. Daytime sessions $8, evening performances $15. Tickets here.
Creswick Theatre Company continues with its winter school holiday pantomime tradition when it presents The Lamington Man, written by Kel Richards and adapted for stage by Trina Crowe.
The Lamington Man is a brand new pantomime with an Australian twist to the traditional Gingerbread Man tale.
When Matilda bakes a special lamington man treat for the children, he leaps right off the baking tray shouting 'Run, Run as fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm the Lamington Man'. A fast little fella, he runs right out the kitchen door and challenges all who cross his path to a running chase but, alas, all are too slow to catch him. Soon the Lamington man comes across a cunning crocodile who tries to trick the cocky cake.
June 29 - July 14.
10am to 4pm. Railway Parade, Creswick
Get up close and cuddly with baby lambs and goats at Creswick Woollen Mills. There's even a new baby alpaca calling The Mill home.
Claymotion
July 9 and 11
34A Mair Street East, Ballarat . Acrylic Pouring Workshop July 9, 1-2pm. $40. Pinch Pot Monsters pottery workshop July 11. 1pm - 3pm. $39. Book here
Claymotion will host two school holiday workshops over winter. Acrylic Pouring Workshop participants will create a beautiful canvas painting using the acrylic pouring technique, and parents are also welcome to join in.
Young potters will learn the pinching method of construction to create two small bowls which will be joined together and hand-modelled monster features applied, and colour, in the Pinch Pot Monsters workshop.
The project is a fun activity, designed to stimulate the children, and hone their imagination, dexterity and fine motor skills as they create a 3D object and plan proportion, design and personal creativity.
Delacombe Town Centre
July 1 - 12
Plaster Fun House will move in to Delacombe Town Centre for the school holidays, allowing a popular Ballarat school holiday tradition to continue. Plaster Fun House activities will run weekdays from 10am to 4pm throughout the holidays.
DTC will also reignite its Come and Try Sport series, giving families the opportunity to come along and try out a new sport. On July 1 the Western Bulldogs will host a football session from 10am to 2pm, Ballarat Netball Association will be on court on July 2, Hockey Victoria will take to the pitch on July 3, Ballarat Squash and Racquetball will hit off on July 5, and Futsal Ballarat will bring their soccer balls from 10am to 12 noon on July 12.
More details here
