It was four years ago when four boys from Bendigo launched a comedy club by telling jokes in a small room at the Goldmines Hotel.
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Next week their years of hard work will pay off when the Bendigo Comedy Festival launches at the Shamrock Hotel. They have honed their skills and now it is time for them – and us – to enjoy the show.
While it is a credit to those performers that they now have their place in Bendigo’s arts and culture scene, the determination of the region’s talent to grow, develop and, ultimately, entertain is something residents are lucky enough to see regularly.
READ MORE: 2015 – Blokes who can get you to laugh
In 2011, the city’s blues and roots music spread from a few small rooms to 60 acts taking over 15 venues for the first Bendigo Blues and Roots Music Festival.
Since then, the popular, volunteer-run festival has grown and developed with last year’s four-day event boasting 140 acts at more than 40 venues.
Bendigo Beer established itself in 2013 after a couple of mates shared a brew and decided they should tell more people about it.
That conversation developed a group that promotes high quality, independent Australian beers (and responsible drinking) and also runs one of the states most popular beer festival’s – Bendigo on the Hop.
In 2015, Bendigo composer and performer Adam Lyon presented Ned: An Australian Musical at the newly opened Ulumbarra Theatre.
The production began its life in a small room while Lyon was at the Victorian College of the Arts and before he was a notable performer on Melbourne stages. The development of the musical went from that small room to Bendigo where a largely local cast and crew bought the story of Ned Kelly to life on the stage.
More and more events, festivals, annual exhibitions and performances develop because of the passionate people that have the drive and desire to put something out into the world – for no other reason than to let others can enjoy it.
And Bendigo’s residents continue to appreciate it.