Bathurst Winter Festival 2023 opening night a huge success

Friends and families rugged up and made the most of what was on offer on night one of the Winter Festival.

With mayor Robert Taylor praising the Bathurst Council events team for their hard work.

"It was one of the biggest crowds for an opening night, it was definitely bigger than last year, I know that," Cr Taylor said.

"It's great for the events team. They've got to stand up and be applauded because they put a lot of hard work in.

"I know they were there from early in the morning until late at night for the opening."

An array of food and beverages, live entertainment, illuminations, face painting, and of course the main attractions - the ice skating rink, ferris wheel and the new addition of the kaleidoscope - meant there was plenty for everyone to enjoy.

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Cr Taylor said he couldn't be more pleased with the turnout and expects the remainder of the two-week festival to be just as busy.

"It has grown to be a very popular event and that's only through the hard work from the events team," he said

"They try to keep some variety each year and try to change things up a little bit, just to improve it from what they've done before.

"There were massive crowds and a lot of families. It was just wonderful to see."

With ticket purchases for the ice skating rink indicating a lot of people from outside the Bathurst postcode will be making their way to the area, Cr Taylor said it's terrific for all the local businesses as well.

He said hotels, pubs, cafes, restaurants and even the boutiques all do well when large crowds descend upon Bathurst.

Now he's just keeping his fingers crossed that the wet weather forecast over the next two weeks holds off and "doesn't dampen the festival".

Another positive that came from the night was the large crowd all being on their best behaviour while enjoying the event.

Bathurst Police Chief Inspector Glenn Cogdell said there was absolutely no policing issues in relation to the crowd behaviour at the festival and he hopes this continues throughout the next two weeks.

"Everyone was well-behaved, absolutely no problems at all," he said.

"I spoke to members of the community and they were all enjoying the festivities and the local talent that was on show, especially from the schools."

The Bathurst Winter Festival will run for the duration of the school holidays.

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