Ballarat City Council has named Ballarat Show Day as the municipality’s 2011 alternate public holiday, a decision which has delighted the Ballarat Agricultural and Pastoral Society which says it will help guarantee the long term viability of the event.
Following lively debate at its meeting last night Council agreed that Ballarat Show Day on Friday 11 November would be declared a public holiday.
The Ballarat Turf Club has decided to hold the Ballarat Cup on Sunday 20 November this year, thereby taking it out of the mix for consideration.
Ballarat Mayor, Cr Craig Fletcher said extensive public consultation in 2010 had overwhelmingly been in favour of Show Day rather than Melbourne Cup day as the municipality’s designated public holiday.
“The Ballarat show is a family-friendly day. It’s a great for schools; it’s great for the community and has a rich history stretching back 145 years. The show involves people from across the region who are attracted by the competitions, the livestock and the sideshows. There really is something for everyone, regardless of age,” Cr Fletcher said.
“I’ve no doubt that if the people of Ballarat are given the opportunity, through a public holiday, to support a local event like the Ballarat Show, they will do just that, and in huge numbers”.
Ballarat Show Director, Gerard Ballinger described the decision as “great news”, saying it would allow the Society to build on the success of last year, when the show enjoyed the benefit of the Friday public holiday.
“This decision will help guarantee our future in the long term; it will also help in a new initiative we are about to launch – the recruitment of new volunteers who would like to become involved in all events organised by the Society: the Show, the Sheep and Alpaca Show and Ram Sale, the Sheep Dog Trials, the Wine Show, and our new event the Rural Lifestyle Expo”, Mr Ballinger said.
“Council’s timing with this decision is perfect. It gives us more certainty to plan for this year’s show; it will allow us to look at our long term planning and work toward regeneration of our event”.