Around Ballarat
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If you love playing dress-up and have wondered what life was like back in the golden era of the Victorian Goldfields region, then dust off your tweed jacket and drive up for the Ballarat Heritage Festival. The nine-day festival takes place from May 16 to 25 and features a program jam-packed with historic experiences, with a thrilling addition of aviation joy rides this year, as well as the classic steam train shuttles, delicious food and drink experiences plus much more.
We hope you've been oiling your facial hair because the annual beard and moustache competition is one of the festival's major events. Got a perfectly styled moustache, or a luscious beard? Head to Hop Temple on May 24 for your chance at the hairy crown, and for craft beer and delicious food as you await the results.
Over both weekends of the festival, a selection of some of the region's finest makers will gather for the Craft Lab to share their heritage trades, traditional practices, lost skills and cultural rituals. You'll get an opportunity to try first-hand the practices of crafts like weaving, knife making, silverwork and more, and you can listen in on talk and panel discussions with passionate makers.
New to the festival this year is the exciting addition of Entertainment of the Air, a celebration of air travel, with special events and performances at the local airport and aviation museum. Plus, airplane enthusiasts have the chance to go on joyride flights on vintage airliners. And it wouldn't be a heritage festival without a tribute to historical steam shuttles, so book in for a journey on one of two steam locomotives.
To learn more about the festival and to buy tickets, head to the website.
