A big thank you to the great team of volunteers who put the third Brown Hill Community Festival together.

The Festival began in October 2016 as a celebration of the successful first year of the Brown Hill Partnership. Around 700 people came along and had a great time. The 2016 Festival was recognised by the City of Ballarat as the 'Activity of the Year' in the January 2017 Australia Day Awards.

This was the second year in which the Festival was run as part of the City of Ballarat's Children's Week celebrations. We estimate that around 800 - 1000 people came (based on the Lions Club selling just under 700 sausages).

We would like to thank Cr Belinda Coates for opening the Festival and her encouraging words about the Brown Hill Community being very active and well-connected. Afterwards, Cr Coates wrote, "Well done to everyone for another fantastically successful Festival!"

There were 94 children from Brown Hill Kindergarten performing on stage and 46 from Caledonian Primary School. Those children can certainly draw a crowd! The Ballarat Highland Dancers again put on an energetic and entertaining show. The Festival was concluded with a moving performance on the Brown Hill Oval by the Federation University Pipe Band. The highlight was an 'Amazing Grace' solo by 10-year-old Angus. What a star!

A fantastic job was done by the Brown Hill Lions Club running the BBQ. $500 in profits from the 2017 Festival BBQ helped to fund the 2018 Festival and this year's profits will start the 2019 Festival Fund. We would like to thank Glen and Kerryn at Baker's Delight Bakery Hill for their generous discount on the bread for the BBQ.

The Brown Hill Uniting Church made another huge batch of pancake mixture to help fill hungry tummies. They also donated $500 to help fund this year's Festival - thank you! It was fantastic to have four emergency vehicles on site. Such excitement! Thanks to the Ballarat CFA, Glen Park CFA, Victoria Police and Ambulance Victoria for attending.

Twelve local community groups came along with stalls and activities, including:

• Brown Hill Fire Aware
• Ballarat 11th Girl Guides
• Ballarat Wholefoods Collective
• Yarrowee-Leigh Catchment Authority
• Ballarat East Men's Shed
• Eureka Mums
• Ballarat Toy Library
• Waterwatch Victoria
• Grampians Central West Waste and Resource Recovery Group
• Ballarat Community Health
• The Hidden Orchard
• Fifteen Trees

The Brown Hill Market team also came along to chat to locals.

We would also like to thank Mark and his family from Clunes Jumping Castles, Asif and his family from Masala Valley Indian and Nigel and Julie from Bean Me Up Coffee for entertainment and food! Nigel wrote, "It was another fantastic night. You guys know how to put on a great event. Congratulations to all of the committee!"

Thanks to Central Highlands Water for providing the 'Hydration Station', an in-kind sponsorship valued at $1500.

To ensure all of Brown Hill knew that the Festival was on, we promoted it with a poster on the back page of Edition 15. Thank you to Emma from the City of Ballarat for updating our poster and Harcourts Ballarat for making two huge versions to put on the fences at the Pool and Caledonian Primary School.

Thank you also to the Brown Hill Hall for waiving the costs for the use of the Hall, the Brown Hill Cricket Club for the use of their beautiful oval and the City of Ballarat's Parks and Gardens Team for mowing the Brown Hill Reserve, putting new tan bark at the playground and making sure the bins were empty.

We would also like to thank the Ballarat Rockers, who meet most Friday nights at the Brown Hill Hall. John and his team kindly relocated to another venue for the night so that the Festival team had full use of the car park and toilets at the Hall.

We would like to recognise the hard work of the volunteers on our Festival Committee:

• Geoff Dickson, Caledonian Primary School
• Brian Green, Brown Hill Lions Club
• Sarah Greenwood-Smith, Brown Hill Progress Association, Festival and Newsletter Coordinator
• Brendan Stevens, Brown Hill Progress Association
• Christine Sullivan, Brown Hill Kindergarten

Most of all, thank you to the Brown Hill community and others from across Ballarat and beyond, for coming along to enjoy the third Brown Hill Community Festival. It was a hit! See you next year on Friday 25 October, 2019.

Sarah Greenwood-Smith Brown Hill Progress Association, Festival and Newsletter Coordinator