By Kath Gannaway
Fresh festival shows Warburton off to the world…
Warburton is getting all lit up about a fresh new mid-winter festival that aims to showcase the town to locals and visitors.
The River of Light Winter Festival will be held on Saturday 29 July with the feature event, the Lantern Walk set to create spectacular and beautiful ribbons of light at dusk.
With just two dumps of snow on Mount Donna Buang so far this season, the festival will provide an additional winter focus for the town.
Warburton Valley CEDA (Community Economic Development Association) president Peta Godenzi said the new festival is a welcome addition to the program of events that make the town buzz in winter.
“The busiest traffic on our Facebook page is from people wanting to see whether there is snow on the mountain and that’s busiest before 9am on a Sunday.
“I believe the snow certainly brings people up and we have snow reports posted early every day from on the mountain and also have VicRoads giving us reports.”
There is a lot of winter left and the tourism and retail business are hoping for some good dumps to drive visitation over the next month or two.
In the meantime the festival team has been hard at work creating magical lanterns and decorations to adorn the river bank.
In addition to lanterns made at workshops held over the school holidays at Yarra Valley ECOSS, there will be lanterns available for sale so everyone can join in.
Festival co-ordinator Phoebe Lines said they are looking forward to a magical night.
“Festooned with lanterns and fairy lights, bridges lit up like a magical other-worlds, wisps of song will trickle through the night as the parade wends its way along the river bank,” she said.
“We want to create an enchanted atmosphere worthy of the extraordinary Yarra River.”
The fun starts at 4.30pm with a singing workshop, followed at 5pm by the Lantern Walk and back to the historic Mechanics Institute Hall for a seasonal community feast, live performances, storytelling and children’s activities.
Ms Godenzi encouraged residents from across the Yarra Valley to visit Warburton on Saturday and experience the welcoming winter experience that the town provides.
He also said residents should keep tabs on the snow reports to take advantage of a close-to-home snow play and tobogganing on Mount Donna Buang when those unpredictable snow dumps happen.
Ms Godenzi said Warburton had retained its character and historic buildings and attracting more and more events that bring visitors to the town.
In October 300 bushwalkers from the Melbourne Bushwalking Club will be in town and in November will see 1500 cyclists taking part in the Giro della Donna.
The signing off by Yarra Ranges Council of plans for the water play park on the banks of the Yarra River adjacent to the caravan park and work to make the river more accessible in the heart of the town are all positive developments for the town, Ms Godenzi said.
For more information on the River of Light Festival, and for snow reports, visit www.facebook.com/VisitWarburton.
