Castlemaine Idyll returns to Lot 19 this Sunday March 20 to once again give aspiring stars their moment in the spotlight to shine.
Tickets are selling fast and the judges have been announced!
The three judges for Castlemaine Idyll 2022 are multi-talented singer and performer Aurora Kurth, writer and broadcaster Clementine Ford and Bridge Hotel publican Pat Furze.
The man behind the event, Lot 19 Art Precinct’s Mark Anstey said they are excited to be able to announce their team of three amazing judges for 2022.
“It’s a real joy and honour to have them contribute their time to our event,” Anstey said.
“Castlemaine Idyll is an uplifting, collaborative community event which brings joy and connection, and these judges are no exception,” Mark added.
In 2022, Castlemaine Idyll is celebrating with musical treats to the theme of ‘Chutzpah’ – with contestants bravely giving it their all.
Castlemaine Idyll ready to launch!
Fete fun set to return
Campbells Creek Primary School is holding its Twilight Easter Fete on Friday April 1.
The special event will bring the local community together for some well overdue fun and will run from 4pm until 8pm.
Campbells Creek Primary School principal Rosie Critchley said the fete will be a great opportunity to show off their amazing school to new and existing families in the district and highlight what they have to offer.
“The last two years have proven to be incredibly challenging to find opportunities to raise funds for our school,” Rosie said.
“Our last fete in 2019 helped pay for our new basketball/netball court. All the money raised from this year’s Twilight Easter Fete will go directly towards replacing the carpet throughout our school,” she said. See the Mail for more details…
Throne of potentiality
Castlemaine’s Billmans Foundry and creatives from Lot 19 Arts Precinct have assisted American conceptual ritualistic artist Stevens Vaughn to bring his latest work dubbed the ‘Throne of Potentiality’ to life.
Stevens and partner Rodney Cone were on their way from China to Chile as the pandemic took hold in March 2020 and during a stop over in Australia made the snap decision to stay a month or two until the covid outbreak in China, Europe and America resolved.
Two years later they are still here.
The pair were embraced by the Lorne community where Stevens was invited to create a work for this weekend’s long awaited Lorne Biennale.
“When we made the decision to stop over in Australia we could never have foreseen what we would find here. We have been embraced by two incredible communities and this latest work would not have been possible without them,” Stevens said.
See the Mail for the full story. Out Now.
What the arts are worth
Eve Lamb
The arts are worth a whopping $107 million per annum to the wider Mount Alexander Shire the latest analysis of state government data has found.
The findings come as local peak business group Business Mount Alexander launches a new project aimed at enhancing the commercial clout and business savvy of local creatives.
“That $107 million per annum finding comes from state government figures and it includes all the flow-on from the arts like visitations to the area and spend on retail, hospitality and accommodation as well as what artists themselves spend in other businesses to create their work,” Business Mount Alexander’s Jacqueline Brodie-Hanns says.
The findings on the economic contribution made by the arts to the shire’s economy also comes as more than 100 local artists welcome visitors to their studios as part of the shire’s annual Arts Open program over this Labour Day long weekend and the following weekend.
The impressive figures highlighting the worth of the arts in their myriad forms coincides also with local arts-rich festivals including this weekend’s Harcourt Applefest and also Castlemaine Idyll and the Fantastico Variety Show later this month.
Business Mount Alexander is preparing to stage a two-day conference to be held in Castlemaine next month, bringing the shire’s creatives and business brains together to network, collaborate, and beef up the business savvy of local creatives while also … Read more in today’s Mail
Arts Open – Meet the Makers
Arts Open returns this weekend. Over 120 artists and organisations have responded to the Arts Open 2022 call to plan events, open studios and host exhibitions, workshops and shows for the weekends of March 12, 13, 14 and 19-20.
Designed to promote regional visual arts on Dja Dja Wurrung country in the historic townships of Castlemaine, Newstead, Maldon, Taradale, Chewton and beyond, the event offers a rare opportunity to engage with artists and their work in their natural habitat, explore the cultural tourism of the Mount Alexander Shire and celebrate the truly awesome arts and culture this region is renowned for. Among the exhibitors will be local centenarian and living treasure Peggy Shaw’s amazing watercolours will feature in a AO group exhibition at the Castlemaine Market Building. See the Mail and our Arts Open feature for all the details on this amazing event.
Autopia set to blast off
Motoring enthusiasts from far and wide will roll into town this Labour Day long weekend for the highly anticipated Autopia 2022 at Autoplex Castlemaine. The theme for this year is the ‘Future Of Hot Rodding’.
More than a dozen of our future hot rodders will be displaying their project cars in the main corridor of the trade training building from Saturday March 12 to Monday March 14.
Other attractions will include the T bucket Cruise-in, classic wooden speedboats and on Sunday March 13 only the Castlemaine Model Show. See the Mail for more…
Women’s footy returns after 74 years
A crowd of more than 100 watched on at Wesley Hill Recreation Reserve on Saturday evening, taking in the first match by a women’s football team from the Castlemaine and Mount Alexander region since 1948.
The game saw local side Mt Alexander Falcons, representing the women and gender diverse people of Mount Alexander Shire, take on the West Brunswick Magpies, in an energetic and entertaining match of heavy bumps and hard-ball gets.
Bridging the 74-year gap between the games was Mavis Herbert, who represented the Castlemaine women’s team in 1948 and was welcomed into the Falcons’ changerooms before Saturday’s game as a very special guest. See the Mail for the full story. Out Now.
Kate Ceberano to visit
Castlemaine’s Theatre Royal hosts a live performance by jazz-funk-pop diva Kate Ceberano next week.
Ceberano’s live gig at the local venue is part of her current east-coast Aussie tour featuring tracks from her latest album Sweet Inspiration for which the funky diva penned the original singles Hold On and title track Sweet Inspiration.
Produced last year during lockdown, Sweet Inspiration is Ceberano’s 28th album and debuted in the top five on the ARIA Albums Chart. See today’s Mail for Eve Lamb’s interview with the star.
Harcourt Applefest returns
The Harcourt Applefest returns tomorrow, Saturday March 12. The special event at James Park will celebrate Harcourt’s apple harvest with fresh fruit and local fare, a wide array of stalls, live entertainment, the popular Art Show at the ANA Hall and lots more. Don’t miss this fun family-friendly event. Check out today’s Mail for our Harcourt Applefest feature and all the happenings.
Restoring Maldon’s mojo: a working update
Eve Lamb
A stroll through central Maldon will never be quite the same when the multi-million dollar streetscape revitalisation project now under way is complete.
The work that’s happening now – or soon will be – was very evident on Maldon’s central High and Main streets as Member for Bendigo West Maree Edwards took a mid-week tour to check out progress, alongside Mount Alexander Shire’s acting CEO Lisa Knight, the council’s director of infrastructure and development Michael Annear, and mayor Cr Bill Maltby.
Leading the tour to check out the transformational progress, senior project manager for the Maldon Streetscape project, Jeff Jackson said the work, that includes restoring Maldon’s large heritage culverts on High Street between Spring and Fountain streets, will be done progressively.
“We’re replacing and restoring the original stone culverts all the way along High Street from Fountain to Spring streets using all original Maldon stone from Mount Tarrengower,” Mr Jackson said.
“We’re also replacing all the old Telstra… Read more in today’s Castlemaine Mail…
On your bike! Maldon hosts the classic
Eve Lamb
Maldon pulls on its lycra and goes two-wheeled this weekend as the town hosts its second ever Maldon Classic celebrating the classic steel bike while raising funds for the local hospital.
Saturday is show day with all manner of retro steel frame beauties on display at the town’s community centre in Francis Street from 10.30am to 4pm.
“We’ve got classic bicycles from the late 1800s through to the 1900s,” says one of the event’s organisers, Peter Gray.
“We’ve got six iconic early bikes from the late 1800s that are part of the rare Farren collection in Richmond.
“People can expect to see Australian makes like Malvern Star, Ken Evans, Hillman and Paconi, and then also a lot of Euro bikes – Bianchis….. Read more in today’s Castlemaine Mail…
Runners inspire
Eve Lamb
Talented runners Taylah Cruttenden, Jack Boulton and Gabriella Boulton were in Castlemaine last weekend with their sights set on taking out some of the feature races at Sunday’s Castlemaine Gift athletics meeting.
But before competing on Camp Reserve on Sunday, the three spent time last Friday running clinics for local primary schools students.
Students at the Castlemaine North and Castlemaine South primary schools, and at the Winters Flat primary school all benefited from having the three classy athletes pay a visit and lead them through drills covering some key technical aspects… Read more in today’s Mail…