Buninyong Good Life Festival to replace Gold King Festival
A new festival called the Buninyong Good Life Festival will be held on the 3rd weekend in October, starting on 16 October 2011, to replace the former Gold King Festival.
To contact the Festival Committee:
Email Miranda Donald: mirandad@tpg.com.au
Call: 0419 584 227
Write to: PO Box 477 Buninyong 3357
Visit the Buninyong Good Life Festival website for more information.
Enjoying the Teddy Bears Picnic at Bear Hugs
Buninyong Gold King Festival
The last Buninyong Gold King Festival, held Friday 27th - Sunday 29th March 2009, was very successful, with many fun activities as always. Wonderful autumn weather brought happy crowds who enjoyed the lively entertainment, street parade, Art Exhibition, folk music, craft stalls, Teddy Bears Picnic, walking tours, market stalls, Bunny Breakfast, Church fete, fun runs and much, much more ....
The Buninyong Gold King Festival was established in 1975 to promote local community groups and provide a free festival for the Ballarat region. By bringing art, theatre, sport, activities for young and old, market stalls and the excitement of the annual Grand Parade to historic Buninyong, the Festival aimed to put a smile on everyone's face!
The Festival was held annually from 1975 to 2009, largely in Desoza Park, and was named after Buninyong's former "Gold King", Henry Joseph Desoza, who, on the eve of his departure for Europe in 1883, conducted an unusual ceremony where he dressed in a velvet cap with a purple scarf and a camellia in his button hole and distributed about 100 gold sovereigns to various charities. At the conclusion of the ceremony Desoza was crowned with a circlet of gold fashioned to depict ferns and forget-me-nots.