Following the success of the AusCycling Road National Championships and this weekend's Rock Ballarat music festival, next weekend is set to be jam-packed with Ballarat Beer Festival and Western United facing Macarthur FC on the same day.

BeerFest celebrates its 10th birthday on Saturday, February 20 bringing beer enthusiasts from across the state to Ballarat to taste the wares of some of Victoria's best craft breweries.

BeerFest director Ric Dexter said it would be a slightly different event than normal, with COVID-19 precautions in place and capacity capped at 4000 people in a 20,000-square metre space.

"We've got plenty of space, plenty of safety. Unfortunately, all our staff have to wear face masks even though it's outside but that's what we've got to live with," he said.

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However, the festival's months-long wait for approvals continues as its COVID-safe plan has yet to be officially ticked off by the Chief Health Officer's office, in turn delaying the approval of its liquor licence.

"We spent about 80 man-hours building a COVID-safe plan, we submitted it early December, I've had verbal approval yesterday and it's going before the Chief Health Officer to be signed off today," Mr Dexter said.

"All things are covered, I just haven't got the bits of paper in my hand."

Mr Dexter said the event would bring cooped-up Melburnians out to Ballarat at a time when most travel is restricted to regional Victoria.

"The more attractions we can get going in regional Victoria, the more Victorians will spend their money in Victoria. Two borders were shut down today and you can't go overseas, so let's let's keep the economy within ourselves and build our own state."

Western United's clash at Mars Stadium is the first time the club has played in Ballarat since February last year as it looks to score its first win in the city.

Western United defender Aaron Calver said it was massive for the club to have the Ballarat community behind it.

"It's a huge footballing region down here, you can see with the the talents we've just bought into Western United with Alex [Baker] and a couple of other young boys," he said.

"Once we get the first win, we can kind of make this place a little fortress of our own. It's nice to get out to the suburban and regional towns. I think we need to do it more as a league, it's better than sitting in empty stadiums in the cities."

The busy schedule is part of the City of Ballarat's push to expand its night-time tourism offerings.

City of Ballarat Mayor Daniel Moloney said in years past, Ballarat hosted events 50 out of 52 weekends.

"We might be using this as an opportunity to reshape the calendar to find events that are complementary and give someone from Melbourne or interstate a chance to see multiple things at the same time," he said.

"We've long realised that Ballarat's Achilles heel with events is night-time entertainment... We're almost too close to Melbourne because people will come for the day but it's hard to get them to stay the night and that's where the night-time entertainment is really critical."

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