Ballarat mayor Daniel Moloney would love a new festival to be created for the city during spring

The success of Sunday night's fireworks display as part of the Summer Sundays music program has given mayor Daniel Moloney cause for optimism that Ballarat can once again recapture the excitement of its festivals.

And the mayor has wasted little time flagging the idea of a spring-based festival, preferred in October and based around Lake Wendouree, to fill a gap between the Winter Festival in July and SpringFest in late November.

POLL: What type of festival should Ballarat hold in spring?

While it is important to be clear that no plans or decisions about any future festival are in place or have yet been discussed at council, the mayor is keen to work through ideas to see a uniquely Ballarat festival come to fruition.

"It is something we were investigating prior to COVID - we'd started to look at the tender process, but then COVID got in the way and everyone was scrambling just to maintain what we already had," Cr Moloney said.

"Hopefully as we come out of that now, we can revisit the idea of something that's uniquely Ballarat."

While a huge fan of events like White Night, Cr Moloney said that was an event that could be transferred to other cities, whereas this idea would be something that would be specifically Ballarat-based and utilise assets such as the lake precinct.

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"I'd like to see us grow another event that is distinctly Ballarat and carries that quieter time on the calendar," he said.

"It's the perfect time, the weather starts to warm up after what can be some long winters in Ballarat; it's a chance to shake off the winter woolies and get back outside.

"It's something I'd like to see us revisit and see where it goes."

The City of Ballarat has helped fund a range of major events leading into the Begonia Festival in March, including the Ballarat Funk'N'Fest, the Ballarat Gift and the Red Hot Summer Tour.

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