Councillor Rod Fyffe said the lighting of the tree in Rosalind Park marked the start of the festive season. 

“When we launch the Christmas tree that is the beginning of Christmas here in Bendigo,” he said. 

“According to me and according to lots and lots of kids and adults too!” 

Lighting of the Christmas tree in Rosalind Park

Bendigo’s Christmas festivities are set to kick off this week with the annual lighting of the Christmas tree in Rosalind Park. 

The City of Greater Bendigo’s annual Summer in the Parks with the family event on Friday from 6.30pm to 9.15pm.

The fun will kick off from 6.30pm with roving characters, and free balloons and show bags.  

Myer Bendigo will also have their Santa post box on site for children to post letters to Santa.

At 7pm master of ceremonies Cogho and Ez from Radio 3BO FM will take to the stage and the crowd will enjoy performances from a number of community groups and bands.

Santa will arrive to spread some Christmas joy and the evening will culminate when deputy mayor Rod Fyffe and a special guest turn on the lights of the Christmas tree at around 9pm.

A summer of festivities

Summer is upon us and the city’s suite of outdoor celebrations will begin this week with the lighting of the Christmas tree in Rosalind Park. 

But that’s just the start of festivities. 

The City of Greater Bendigo, FReeZA and local community groups and organisations will present the 2016/2017 Summer in the Parks, featuring a range of free or low cost events during the months of December, January and February.

Parks and reserves across greater Bendigo will come alive during December with a range of fabulous, festive celebrations including the annual Lighting of the Christmas Tree, Christmas carols across the region and New Year’s Eve fireworks to welcome in 2017 with a bang, organisers say. 

In January it’s time to settle in for some Summer in the Parks outdoor cinema entertainment at various locations and a terrific range of other community activities such as historical walking tours of Bendigo, Australia Day celebrations and come and try events.

The tours trace Bendigo’s rich history through the central business area and Rosalind Park to show historic buildings and sites and illustrate the lives of people who built and lived in them.

February is all about getting your groove on with live music in parks throughout greater Bendigo each Friday evening along with a range of other fun and interesting events to enjoy.

There will even be a series of classes with circus props that are available for use. This includes hoops, staffs, pois, spinning plates, flower-stix, contact balls, levi-wands and juggling.

Among the come and try events are activities such as Australian rules football, twilight golf croquet, ultimate Frisbee and even a laughter club.

Deputy mayor confident of ‘incident free’ celebrations 

Deputy mayor Rod Fyffe said he was confident this year’s events would be incident free. 

Last year vandals inflicted $3000 worth of damage on two nutcrackers. 

But Cr Fyffe said the decorations would be monitored by CCTV.

“What happened last year was a tremendous shame,” Cr Fyffe said. 

“The fact that we had Marilyn here and she wasn’t targeted as well as other decorations we’ve had up since shows the 99.99 per cent of are terrific sports about it.”

Cr Fyffe said he was looking forward to the chance to take a break over Christmas and to spend time with family and friends. 

“It really is a wonderful time and a wonderful way to end the year on a high,” the deputy mayor said.  

The full Summer in the Parks program of events, activities, times and dates is available at www.bendigosummerintheparks.com