Night of illumination and art, the inaugural White Night Ballarat went down as quite a historic event! Nobody has seen such massive public participation, with exception perhaps of the great street parades at the beginning of the 20th century!
The great advantage of hosting the night in Ballarat was the leisurely and short distance between all attractions. With much smaller area than Melbourne, Ballarat’s advantage were the arty laneway connecting very wide CBD Ballarat streets. You really didn’t struggle, there was plenty of food and places open all night albeit there were long queues too with 40 thousands of spectators to feed. Most coffee places were open late, some till the morning which was fantastic, unusual and just so nice to have at 5am!
White night featured many local artists, would love to see more but other cultural institutions like BMI – Ballarat Mechanics Institute, have independently organised great events like the world-premiere at midnight of The Night ReVerses, a unique two-man show performed by poet Nathan Curnow and singer songwriter Geoffrey Williams.
The event closed a bit too early at around 4.3am to many people’s dislike despite being advertised until 7am. There were plenty of people wanting to catch up a different unique atmosphere of the early sunrise, quite a special Sunday morning treat taking into consideration unique Ballarat architecture and the morning light. Perhaps a thought for next year.
love these Aldona fantastic