The initial reviews of the revamped Begonia Festival are in after its opening weekend, with Ballarat residents and businesses enjoying the new format.
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The new format has spread visitors throughout the Ballarat region with events and activities taking place at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens, the city centre, Civic Hall and Buninyong.
Buninyong business Saltbush Kitchen has been a long-time participant in the Begonia Festival, often setting up a stall at the gardens, but owner Brigid Corcoran said it was great to bring tourists to the town.
"We've worked with [council's] events team to put on a few different events for the month. The other great thing is it's rolling out for the month," she said.
"For us, this was the first weekend and [Saturday] was awesome, but also it's exciting to know we can really push forward for the next few weeks and build it as well.
"Yesterday, we had a lot of visitation from a lot of families with locals, so families from Melbourne or families from Geelong who were with family visiting, which is really interesting and lots of people have never been here before which was really cool."
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Ms Corcoran said this year, the business was offering takeaway picnic boxes to encourage people to take advantage of the gardens and displays.
"I've been part of the Begonia Festival before on-site at the gardens, which is an amazing setup, but for me, I love this format because it showcases in everyone's own environments and the beautiful different areas you can go," she said.
"With our picnic box, it's about showcasing all these beautiful gardens you can actually go and sit in, so instead of traveling to one area, you can actually get more of the region."
While Sunday appeared quiet in Buninyong, Sturt Street and the Ballarat Botanical Gardens remained busy all weekend.
Ms Corcoran said some people, such as herself, were planning to take in the entire festival over the coming weeks.
"You've suddenly got a month to get to all these installations like Civic Hall and Sturt Street and you've got weeks to go and have a look at it and I'm planning that for me," she said.
"People are talking about making a plan for the month instead of just having it on the three days, which I think is really good as well."
Lifelong Ballarat residents Maureen and Alan Woodford said they were enjoying the new festival.
"We were just saying how clever people are with doing these displays and everything," Ms Woodford said.
"I think it's good, it gets a bit crowded at the lake at times over the weekend.
"We'll go up to the gardens and have a wander, we might do that next week.
"I think it'll be alright actually just spreading it out, maybe not the four weekends. Maybe it might be a little bit long. You've got to try different things these days because just the whole world's changed at the moment."
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