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.
Arts Open – Meet the Makers
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…
A bold vision
The transformation of the Castlemaine Goods Shed into a creative and community hub is a step closer with the appointment of renowned architects Cumulus to design the next stage of the redevelopment.
Bendigo West MP Maree Edwards visited The Goods Shed on Monday to announce the design team for the $6 million second stage of the project.
Castlemaine State Festival director Glyn Roberts said they have been brainstorming and researching what they would like to see and were looking forward to sitting down with the teams from Cumulus and project managers Root Partnerships to chat about their hopes and aspirations for the project.
“We can’t wait to see what they come up with,” he said.
This next stage of the project will create flexible spaces for exhibitions, performance, events and creative activities. See the Mail for the full story.
Lancia marks 50 year milestone
The Australian Lancia Register is holding its 26th biennial Castlemaine Lancia Meet this weekend, March 4-6.
The three day program will see Lancisti from around Australia come together in historic Castlemaine.
Australian Lancia Register president Angelo Monteleone said they are looking forward to catching up with many friends missed during last year’s turmoil of lockdowns.
“Unfortunately we were forced to postpone our event planned for October 2021 but look forward to coming back to Castlemaine this weekend!” Mr Monteleone said.
“The theme for this years rally is 100 years of the Lambda 1921-2021, but there will be Lancia cars from all eras present,” he said. See the Mail for the full story.
Newstead celebrates
The township of Newstead is celebrating with their Women’s Cricket team set to compete in this evening’s Castlemaine District Cricket Association (CDCA) Semi Finals in what is their inaugural season.
The team has received overwhelming support from the wider club and Newstead community and will proudly represent the town in their Semi Final bout against Guildford Cricket Club at the Newstead Recreation Reserve tonight, Friday March 4 at 6pm.
The Newstead ladies finished second on the ladder after a top season where they won five games, drew one and dropped only one game on their way to the finals. The winner of the match will take on the winner of the Barkers Creek v Hepburn semi in the grand final on Friday March 11.
The whole town is urged to get along and show their support for the Newstead side as they eye a spot in the finals.
Celebrating 50 years
Renowned local performer Jan ‘Yarn’ Wositzky’s ‘Thank You For The Welcome’ show is set to feature at Castlemaine’s historic Theatre Royal on Sunday March 20.
The performance, proudly presented by SteamPacket, will gather a half-century of songs and stories from the storyteller and musician into one incredible heartfelt performance.
Jan will be joined by Jack Norton on guitar and bouzouki; multi-instrumentalist Wendy Rowlands on piano, sarangi, accordion and violin; Ian White on banjo and a number of other special guests.
Fifty years after innocently stumbling into a life in the performing arts, and having now received an Order of Australia for his contribution to music and storytelling, Jan ‘Yarn’ Wositzky is celebrating the milestone with ‘Thank You For The Welcome’, a concert packed with his favourite stuff – songs and stories Jan believes are worth remembering into our future. See the Mail for more…