Refilled in 2008, Lake Wendouree has become the beacon of life this year for Ballarat residents determined to make the most of the fresh air and environment during the harsh lockdown.

As we move out of 2020, it's clear that Lake Wendouree should be the glittering feature for the city moving forward, but the question is how do you activate it while staying true to the environment and keeping history in tact.

Cr Samantha McIntosh is one who believes Ballarat should show itself off.

"The lake is the jewel in the crown," Cr McIntosh said. "It's the personality of our city, it reflects our environment, our care for wildlife, the health of our water supply. It's a sign of healthy life in the way people use it and a healthy future is just so important."

Funding already exists for lake lighting which is something that now must be decided on within the next short space of time.

Cr McIntosh said it would happen, but it was something the city just had to get right.

"I certainly support lighting the lake, but it needs to respect the heritage and not be too much of a disruption to those along the lake, but it also needs to be useful for what it is designed for," she said.

Cr McIntosh's view is not for permanent new infrastructure, but more staged events throughout the year highlighting the city's assets.

She said there was no better opportunity than now to look at every aspect of its future use giving the changing makeup of the events sector in 2021 and beyond.

"In my mind, we look at what we did for White Night, something that celebrates our amazing artists and creativity," she said.

"We've seen now that we can attract 40-60,000 people into the city which we hadn't done in the past, we can run major events successfully.

"We have wonderful venues and opportunities to be creative and we can rethink what we can do well.

"When new leaders are elected, there is a tendency to look at all sorts of new things, but we know we have events that people love, we can't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

"We know the community loves these events, but is it always the best way? Let's celebrate the past but consistently refresh our plans for the future."

Users of the lake all agree it can be even better utitilsed going forward.

President of Ballarat Rotary Club Alan Campbell said he would like to see more work on the northern bank of the lake.

"From a Rotary point of view, we obviously use the lake for SpringFest," he said. "There's no other city in the state which has such an asset in the middle of town and I think we do underutilise it.

"In summer, if we had something like summer music evenings, you could do something in the gardens, or by Pipers By The Lake, there's plenty of area to do something like that.

"I know in Mildura they actually have pop-up cafes and restaurants that run out of shipping containers on the Murray, wouldn't it be great if we could do something like that on the northern side, there's nothing there at the moment.

"There's always a possibility of something like AutumnFest or WinterFest as well. Why not?"

Life member of the Ballarat Fly Fishers Club Shane Stevens said Lake Wendouree was a drawcard to fishermen all across the state.

"Angles are back in droves, if you drive around at night, you'll see lots of headlamps, it's been fantastic to get fishing back," he said.

"We're thrilled that the City of Ballarat has purchased a new weed cutter. The weed is very important as it filters the water, so it's great to see council are investing in the future.

"Obviously we've had a lot of cancellations this year, but we've met and we're talking about what we can get back next year.

"We've got a couple of big events planned, there's the Lake Wendouree Two Fly coming up and Fly Fish Australia are having the Victorian chapter on the lake in April next year. That's the event where you will see anglers from all over the country compete for world and Commonwealth selections.

"You think of all those clubs that have something to do with it, it's the biggest attraction Ballarat has. During the drought, when that was taken away, although we had Sovereign Hill, we missed out on a lot.

"We're very lucky to have it and sometimes we under appreciate what we've got."

Immediate Past Commodore of the Ballaarat Yacht Club Colin Littlejohn said allowing as many people access to the lake was important.

"We have noticed increased activity and what's changed for us is we are getting a lot applications from families to become involved," he said.

"At the end of the day, we are a non-contact sport, we're a healthy opportunity for people and we've noticed a lot of Melbourne people who are moving to Ballarat and joining up, they didn't realise sailing was even here."

Mr Littlejohn said there would be more state and national titles on the lake in coming months, starting with the all abilities Hansa State Titles in the first part of the year.

He said the club was also working through the idea of a wooden boat festival to run in conjunction with the Begonia Festival in March and was always open to other ideas.

"There is plenty of water, plenty of days in the calendar, plenty of room on the lake. We just all have to talk to each other," he said.

"A lot of the schools are approaching us to run school programs for us as well. It's buzzing. We survived the drought, we can survive anything.

"Lake Wendouree, it's the jewel in the Ballarat crown, I love it, it's just great, where else would you want to be?"

Golden Dragons Ballarat spokesperson Magie Guy said she would love to see a shed or facility constructed for different clubs around the lake.

"I believe we could have a multi-purpose shed for those groups that don't have a space. That would really encourage more activity on the lake.

"Ultimately, if we had some sort of space, we could attract major regattas. For example the Victorian Dragon Boat Championships are held in March every year and the national titles are held at Easter.

"We used to be able to hold regattas, but we don't any more, but how good would it be to have a Victorian title the Begonia Festival weekend?

"If there were more festivals like SpringFest, we'd always take the boats out, it gives us a great exposure for those that might be interested in having a go."

One of the most popular sports on the lake is rowing with schools all across the city descending on it annually for the Head-of-the-Lake

Wendouree-Ballarat Rowing Club captain Alicia Ivory said she was encouraged by the council's support for rowing in this city.

"The more council can do to support local clubs, sporting events, attract people in the area to race, spend nights in town, buy dinner, petrol, it all makes a huge contribution," she said.

"The more events we can get in Ballarat the better, if we can attract the larger regattas like Geelong and Nagambie.

"The Head of the School Girls is held in Geelong at the moment, there's a real opportunity given we have eight lanes and full 2km course. We have had head of the school boys. The more opportunities to have events the better for everyone, we alternate with the state titles with Nagambie every two years.

"The other initiative we are working on is the Omnium which is a series of short distance events making up the long distance around the lake. It would be great if we could see a multi-class and multi-event day at some stage."

Committee For Ballarat's chief executive Michael Poulton is always one to think big. He would like to see a nightly show during the summer months.

"The premise is this lake is a wonderful stage for walking, riding, using it for recreational facilities. For the summer could it be opened up for a stage in itself," he said.

"Look what they did with the Yarra River for the Commonwealth Games, what they do at Geelong during Christmas, the water becomes the stage itself. There are some Incredibly creative designers around the place who I know would be keen to design a show to be based on the lake.

"Each night around 9pm you could have a sound and light show. In the lead up to that, people can go to restaurants, markets, pop-up food vans. The key feature would be an artistic creative design piece that people from Melbourne would say, 'Ballarat has this on, let's go there for the weekend'.

Mr Poulton said there was scope to include a number of areas even Victoria Park and the former saleyards site to create a massive precinct.

"I think the big hero events are really important to the city, but you have to be realistic that in 2021, events are going to struggle," he said. "Should we be planning for 2022? Absolutely!

"The wonderful Sovereign Hill masterplan sets the platform for everything to be unlocked and we should be willing to leverage off that."

The Courier's nature write Roger Thomas said whatever activations were considered for the lake going forward, it needed to keep in mind the effect they would have on native wildlife.

"I'm talking about fireworks here, yes they've been moved from Australia Day, but potentially we might see something for Begonia Festival in March," he said.

"What you find is things like fun runs, they have little impact, it's the bigger events where there's potential for litter, or when people don't have their dogs on leads that can cause the issues."

Mr Thomas said one thing he had noticed was a sharp rise in bird watchers which had become a popular past time and hobby for many people during lockdowns of 2020.

"I've never seen so many people out on the lake with cameras, and they're not taking photos of the view," he said.

"Lake Wendouree is quite unique almost for the world in the amount of species of birds it has. I know most bird watchers know about it, but it's something that could be promoted for anyone starting out."

Central Ward councillor Belinda Coates said residents and locals knew of the benefits the lake brings to the city, but the opportunities existed to support business and tourism sectors moving forward.

"I think we've got so much opportunity, because of a growing population that more than ever values our outdoor spaces, for recreation and to connect with each other," she said.

"Whether that's food, cultural, arts, sport and recreation, the lake offers it all.

"I don't have specific thoughts, I particularly would like to see a focus on utilising resources such as artists and all of the city's creativity. If we get it right, it will be great for residents, it will also be an attractor for tourism."

Cr Coates said discussions were ongoing about future plans, but event sizes and planning had been stalled due to the pandemic.

"All of those things are on the table and it won't be a hard thing to do. If you go to the lake on a sunny day and see the cafes, and people out enjoying it, we know it can be a success."

Mayor Daniel Moloney said the lake was a point of difference for Ballarat, and also revealed plans were in place for a much more lengthened Begonia Festival in 2021.

"It's a big part of the reason people come to the city," he said. "The challenge though is not just to get people there, but also to get them into the city.

"We're pretty keen to keep on activating the lake, but it's important we also focus on the CBD as well."

"2021 is going to really be about giving events more time and space. So if you can increase the space and increase the time you can get a lot more people in.

"For example, rather than trying to cram 60,000 people into a three day event like Begonia Festival at the lake, it makes sense to us to try and spread that out over a few weekends and to increase the area where people are going.

"We're pretty keen where we can, to try and get businesses in the city and around Ballarat generally to link into the Begonia theme.

"This isn't a new concept, you look at old photos of the Western Hotel, there's some beautiful photos of begonias across the front of that building, so we're keen to get back to some of those traditions.

"There's also potential for fireworks in the CBD or a light show of some sort."