“During the festival we also have Lynda Gallus and Kaye Clancy art exhibition, Sweeney Todd musical, Tower Park wonderland evening, a morning market, pinball alley, Kransky Sisters’ Annie Lee telling fortunes, a ribbon acrobat and a fire breather,” he said.
“Performers will roam the streets and there will be pockets of experiences. This year’s theme asks people to express their alter-egos – society makes you conform, but for one night you can be who you want to be.
“There is magic when people dress up, they become the event – it will be a sensory feast for everyone, a sea of movement of people in costume.”
Mr Uoy said several community and school groups were part of the festival, from the opening at Warracknabeal General Store, to the acts and exhibitions at Dimboola, to the event’s close at Serviceton.
“Seymour Heritage Rail will bring passengers to Horsham on the Friday, where they will stay overnight and be shuttled to Dimboola on Saturday,” he said.
“On Sunday, the same service will take passengers to Serviceton, where about 12 local people will be costumed and staged in a vogue-steampunk family having high tea theme, to promote the railway station in a very stylised, but fantasy-based way.”
Mr Uoy said the inaugural not-for-profit event in 2022 attracted 2500 people to the region, while 2023’s event brought almost 4000 people.
“It’s getting bigger – the progress association volunteers welcome more people to help with the event and give back to our community while promoting it to an Australia-wide audience,” he said.
“We want to bring joy to our community, but also promote it. We are all here together, our towns are small, we need to work together. We need to show we are imaginative and can do amazing things.”
A full program of events and early bird tickets are available now at www.wimmerasteampunkfestival.com.au.
