With just weeks to go, preparations are in full swing for Beechworth’s biggest annual event, the Golden Horseshoes Festival, taking place across the Easter long weekend from Good Friday 2 to Easter Sunday 4 April.
This year’s major festival fundraiser is a Monster Raffle, offering more than $7000 in prizes donated by local businesses including, again this year, a fabulous $2000 golden egg from Beechworth Gold.
Golden Horseshoes Festival committee members are currently out in force armed with raffle tickets for sale at the Beechworth Visitor Information Centre and a variety of local businesses including the newsagency and hardware store as well as at Centro Albury on Tuesday 23 February and Friday and Saturday, 19 & 20 March and at Centro Lavington on Thursday 4 and Friday 5 March.
The raffle will be drawn at 2pm on Sunday 4 April in the Chinese Gardens at Lake Sambell. Proceeds will go towards this year’s Festival program, which returns, bigger and better than ever with traditional favourites including the spectacular Grand Parade which annually commemorates and re-enacts the historic ride through the streets of Beechworth in November 1855 by newly elected Victorian MP, Daniel Cameron on a horse shod with real gold shoes.
Returning this year are Rotary’s huge Easter Craft Market in the Queen Victoria Gardens and the Beechworth Neighborhood Centre’s Paddy’s Market crammed with dozens of stalls of second-hand furniture, collectables and bric-a-brac.
Other program highlights include spectacular roving entertainment from the Festive Factory, buskers, a huge Easter Egg Hunt with the Easter Bunny, live music from acclaimed artists, Nick Barker and Lee Rosser on the Camp St stage, a food court and the sensational Itchy Feet Pep Band from Melbourne.
Family fun also includes the Museum of Victoria’s Discovery Program with its fascinating display of artifacts from the Museum’s collection, as well as a special Kites for Kids event on Easter Sunday.
Run for the third consecutive year by a local community committee, the Golden Horseshoes Festival annually attracts thousands of visitors to the town. Committee President Kathryn Osmond urged local groups and individuals to get into the spirit of the festival and dress up, enter a float, buy a raffle ticket or just pull up a chair in the food court and soak up the unique ambience of Easter in Beechworth.
