ONE third of all people who ice skated during the Bathurst Winter Festival came from outside the 2795 postcode, data released by council shows.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 16-day festival ran from July 7-22 and it was the fourth year the central business district has been transformed into a winter wonderland for the event.
A total of 22,240 ice skating tickets were sold, with 37 per cent of sales made (8228 tickets) to people from outside the Bathurst postcode.
- Read more: Reader ideas for festivals of the future
In addition, 16,788 tickets were sold for the ferris wheel and 20,741 for the festival’s new attraction the House of Mirrors.
The winter festival’s two signature street party nights – Ignite the Night (held on July 7) and Brew and Bite on July 14 also attracted big crowds.
Both events had extended hours this year and commenced at noon and ran until 9pm, rather than the 5pm start of previous years.
Unfortunately cold, rainy weather played havoc on Ignite the Night crowds with just 7000 people in attendance, while fine weather attracted 18,000 to the CBD for Brew and Bite.
Bathurst Regional Council mayor Graeme Hanger said the extension of hours for the two street parties had been a success.
“The extended hours made the feature events even more family friendly, allowing more time for the community to enjoy the food and attractions,” he said.
Cr Hanger said the fourth annual Bathurst Winter Festival had been a success and council’s dedicated staff would “strive to continue this success in the future”.
“The event helps build on our sense of community by bringing in thousands of people and visitors together into the CBD in the middle of winter,” he said.
“It also contributes greatly to local businesses boosting our economy in what is traditionally a quiet time of year.”
Cr Hanger praised council’s dedicated events staff as well those in other departments for their success in bringing the community a great festival.
“An amazing job was done by the events team and I would like to congratulate them on a job well done,” he said.
“A lot of commitment goes into the event and producing and delivering a large-scale regional event such as the winter festival involves many council departments such as staff from the depot, water and waste, administration, parks and garden, health and safety, engineering, finance, planning, media and communications just to name a few.”
