The Ballarat Winter Festival's off to a flying start, with more than 1500 people trying out ice skating in the CBD and sold out sessions at Sovereign Hill's Winter Wonderlights.
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A council event, the aim is to drive tourism numbers to Ballarat through a typically cold winter, with several new ideas as the pandemic recedes.
For example, council's keen to promote a new Bollywood dance night at the temporary Sturt Street ice-skating rink on Saturday, July 16, joining popular disco sessions on Friday and Saturday nights.
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They'll be a contrast to the morning sessions, where dozens of Ballarat's youngest skaters hit the ice, many for the first time ever.
On Thursday morning, they got a bonus display from Melbourne skaters Summer Wolchyn and Courtney Reid, who were on-hand to help councillor Samantha McIntosh out.
"The very first time I tried ice-skating was when the City of Ballarat put this rink between Myer and the Town Hall, and our community just came on board and loved it," she said, beaming.
"There were 1500 people (skating) in the first weekend, it's amazing the numbers turning up to our Winter Festival, 54 per cent-plus coming from away, over two night stays on average, a significant economic benefit for the city."
The Winter Wonderlights will continue for the next few weeks, with a special grown-ups night on July 15 featuring live music from Adriana and Sweat Dreams, while Patricia Piccinini's majestic Skywhale and Skywhalepapa hot air balloon sculptures will launch from Eastern Oval at dawn on July 9.
"We've got a lot of opportunities and activities for everyone, for little ones, for the elderly, for every age in between," Cr McIntosh said.
"It's about putting Ballarat on the stage in winter, a season we celebrate so beautifully - Ballarat is cold, we're high up from sea level, and we understand how to enjoy it, there's some gorgeous fires burning in gorgeous venues, amazing hospitality, the Wonderlights, the ice-skating, and all the other activities we have on offer."
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