Upwards of 2,000 people turned out to celebrate the Winter Solstice with a sculpture burning in Point Lonsdale - part of the annual Low Light Festival. Photo courtesy Lester Hunt. Thousands of people have turned out to the borough’s first winter solstice celebration - part of the two-month long annual Low Light Festival.
The June 22 event featured three wooden sculptures, burned at intervals, in Point Lonsdale, Queenscliff and at the ferry terminal.
Upwards of 1500 gathered at the Point Lonsdale front beach to watch the first, a lighthouse structure, go up in flames before moving on to the remaining two.
“We were absolutely blown away by the turnout,” said festival spokesperson Andrew Orvis. “We honestly had no idea what to expect in terms of crowd numbers, but at all three locations we had huge turnouts.
“We lucked out with some reasonable winter weather on the night which certainly helped. When was the last time we would have seen a crowd that size in the main streets of Point Lonsdale and Queenscliff in the middle of winter.”
Mr Orvis said it was too early to say whether the sculpture burning would be return next year part of Low Light.
“It may be an annual event, who knows. The beauty of Low Light is that it can be whatever we want it to be.
“We’ll see what direction we go in 2020. We’re thrilled with how this year’s festival has gone, and the response has been fantastic. There’s always things to improve and tweaking to be done.”
The response on The Rip Facebook page from those who attended the winter solstice celebration was overwhelmingly positive:
“Lovely to see such a great turn out. Came back into Queenscliff for dinner at Lombardy's & was just wonderful seeing all the families walking to beach for final fire after seeing snowflake. Let's hope this becomes an annual event,” said one post.
“Biggest turn out on a cold night in Lonnie’s Main Street ever! Well done organisers. Roll on next year I hope,” said another.
The June 22 event featured three wooden sculptures, burned at intervals, in Point Lonsdale, Queenscliff and at the ferry terminal.
Upwards of 1500 gathered at the Point Lonsdale front beach to watch the first, a lighthouse structure, go up in flames before moving on to the remaining two.
“We were absolutely blown away by the turnout,” said festival spokesperson Andrew Orvis. “We honestly had no idea what to expect in terms of crowd numbers, but at all three locations we had huge turnouts.
“We lucked out with some reasonable winter weather on the night which certainly helped. When was the last time we would have seen a crowd that size in the main streets of Point Lonsdale and Queenscliff in the middle of winter.”
Mr Orvis said it was too early to say whether the sculpture burning would be return next year part of Low Light.
“It may be an annual event, who knows. The beauty of Low Light is that it can be whatever we want it to be.
“We’ll see what direction we go in 2020. We’re thrilled with how this year’s festival has gone, and the response has been fantastic. There’s always things to improve and tweaking to be done.”
The response on The Rip Facebook page from those who attended the winter solstice celebration was overwhelmingly positive:
“Lovely to see such a great turn out. Came back into Queenscliff for dinner at Lombardy's & was just wonderful seeing all the families walking to beach for final fire after seeing snowflake. Let's hope this becomes an annual event,” said one post.
“Biggest turn out on a cold night in Lonnie’s Main Street ever! Well done organisers. Roll on next year I hope,” said another.