Bathurst Winter Festival: Where can it go from here?

Deputy mayor Michael Coote said the official gate count for Saturday's Brew and Bite event had the crowd pegged at more than 12,000 people, but the figure was likely even higher. 

“I walked in through the park and there were quite a few people also coming in through the park, so it was probably around 13,000 or 14,000,” he said.

Cr Coote didn’t have specific figures for the number of visitors that had come to Bathurst for the festival, but said there were a lot of faces he didn’t recognise. 

Brew and Bite was the second major night for the festival, boasting a long line of food and beverage vendors in Church Street, known as Edible Alley for the night. 

Part of Edible Alley was the whiskey and gin bar, a new attraction for the festival, that brought local producers together with their best drops. 

There on the night were 1859 Brewing Co, Grass Parrot Vineyard, Bellbrook Friends Wines, Renzaglia Wines, Vale Creek Wines, Bilpin Cider, Fish River Valley Brewing, Three Views Wines, Two Heads Brewing, Badlands Brewery, Stone Pine Distillery and Black Gate Distillery.

Family-friendly entertainment was spread throughout the festival precinct and included street performers, circus acts, a fairy garden, illuminations, a silent disco and live music. 

The festival’s winter playground also drew big crowds on the night despite the attractions being open throughout the festival.

Cr Coote said over 13,000 tickets have been sold for the ice rink so far, while a combined 15,000 have been sold for the carousel and the ferris wheel.

He said council was happy to see so many people out enjoying the night. 

“If we break even we’ll be happy, but we’ll probably lose money,” he said.

“It is not about money, though, it is about getting people out of their houses during winter.” 

The festival will definitely return to the city in 2018, but Cr Coote said the question was how to take the event to the next level after it had already seen so much success.

“Hannah Welsh and the events team have done a fantastic job this year and [the festival] is just going from strength to strength,” he said.

“I know they are frantically thinking about what they can do next year.”