After the first two events exceeded all expectations, the upcoming Wimmera Steampunk Festival is set to be bigger than ever.
For the first time, this year’s festival, the Carnival of Peculiarities, will take place across three Shires over a week in early April.
The official opening will be on Saturday, 5 April, at The General Store in Warracknabeal, with The Menagerie of Unusual Creatures Exhibition, the last day will feature a train journey to Serviceton for a High Tea in the heritage listed railway station, and in between will be a market, performances, live music, good food, exhibitions, and the highlight of the costumed street party in Dimboola on Saturday evening.The Wimmera Steampunk Festival blends Victoriana and Imagination. Set in the 19th-century railway town of Dimboola, the event celebrates the weird and wonderful. People of the Wimmera and beyond come together through creativity, festivities and an appreciation of 19th-century aesthetics.
Step into a reimagined Dimboola, a 19th-century Carnival of Peculiarities, where you are both a spectator and part of the spectacle. Diversity and inclusion are celebrated. Engage with street performers, marvel at stilt walkers, and be fascinated by fantastic mechanical contraptions. Get your fortune read, challenge yourself at Pinball Alley, or explore various entertainment options leisurely. It’s a night of pure escapism and imagination. The Carnival of Peculiarities is about celebrating your uniqueness and creativity.
There will be three stages: bands, performers and illusionists, food and drink vendors, exhibitions, and ribbon acrobatics. A children’s lantern procession will open the event. There is a variety of both free a ticketed activities across the week, including four performances of Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in the DMSC hall, displays by the Dimboola and District Historical Society, and exhibitions in the Star Theatre and Old Shire Hall.
The highlight of the festival will be the consumed street party on Saturday evening, which will see parts of Lloyd and Lochiel streets closed to traffic and transformed into a 19th century carnival.
The Horsham Rural City Band will start the proceedings, leading a procession of children with lanterns, and to acknowledge the efforts of all those who helped battle the recent fires, two vintage fire trucks and firefighters with lanterns will join the parade.
The rest of the evening will be filled with costumes, stage and street performances, aerial acts, light projections, and food and drink vendors.
The Seymour Railway Heritage Centre will operate a train from their base, via Melbourne, to the Wimmera for the weekend. This will bring festival attendees but also allow patrons to enjoy a couple of days exploring the district and witness first-hand the regeneration of nature after the recent fires.
The train will provide a convenient option for those staying in Horsham to commute to Dimboola on the Saturday for the activities during the day and the street party in the evening, and it will convey patrons to Serviceton, where they will experience a high tea in the historic 1899-built railway station and become the first passenger train to stop at this former border station in forty years.Tickets for the various events across the week can be purchased online via links in the official program here. ** The Dimboola Courier is a proud sponsor of the Wimmera Steampunk Festival. **
Wimmera Steampunk Festival Program
[T] - Ticketed eventSaturday 5 April
The Menagerie of Unusual Creatures Exhibition [T]- Venue: The General Store – 60 Scott St. Warracknabeal
- Time: 7.30 pm to late
Wednesday 9 April
Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street [T]- Venue: Dimboola Memorial Secondary College – 66 Ellerman St. Dimboola
- Time: 7.00 pm
Thursday 10 April
Dimboola & District Historical Society Book Sale & Steam Tractor Display
- Venue: Court House Museum – 67 Lloyd St. Dimboola
- Time: 10.00 am – 12.00 pm
Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street [T]
- Venue: Dimboola Memorial Secondary College – 66 Ellerman St. Dimboola
- Time: 7.00 pm
Friday 11 April
Linda Gallus & Kaye Clancy Art Exhibition
- Venue: Star Theatre – 117 Lloyd St. Dimboola
- Time: 9.00 am – 10.00 pm
Angela Walker Art Exhibition
- Venue: Dimboola Shire Hall – 101 Lloyd St. Dimboola
- Time: 10.00 am – 2.00 pm
Dimboola & District Historical Society Book Sale & Steam Tractor Display
- Venue: Court House Museum – 67 Lloyd St. Dimboola
- Time: 10.00 am – 12.00 pm / 2.00 pm – 4.00 pm
Dimboola & District Historical Society Print Museum
- Venue: 27 Lochiel St. Dimboola
- Time: 10.00 am – 12.00 pm / 2.00 pm – 4.00 pm
Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street [T]
- Venue: Dimboola Memorial Secondary College – 66 Ellerman St. Dimboola
- Time: 7.00 pm
Cat Clarke’s Special Dinner [T]
- Venue: Dimboola Golf Club – Old Racecourse Road, Dimboola
- Time: 2 Sittings - TBC
Saturday 12 April
Dimboola & District Historical Society Book Sale & Steam Tractor Display
- Venue: Court House Museum – 67 Lloyd St. Dimboola
- Time: 9.00 am – 2.00 pm
Market by the Wimmera River
- Venue: Dimboola Rowing Club – Recreation Reserve, Lloyd St.
- Time: 10 am – 3.00 pm
Bare Foot Bowling
- Venue: Dimboola Bowling Club – 51 Lloyd St. Dimboola
- Time: TBC
Country Women’s Association Devonshire Tea
- Venue: Dimboola R.S.L. – 113 Lloyd St. Dimboola
- Time: 10.00 am – 1.00 pm
Dimboola & District Historical Society Print Museum
- Venue: 27 Lochiel St. Dimboola
- Time: 10.00 am – 2.00 pm
Angela Walker Art Exhibition
- Venue: Dimboola Shire Hall – 101 Lloyd St. Dimboola
- Time: 10.00 am – 2.00 pm
Sci-Fi Briar’s Peculiar Science Show For Kids [T]
- Venue: Star Theatre – 117 Lloyd St. Dimboola
- Time: 11.00 am, 12.30 pm, 2.00 pm
Linda Gallus & Kaye Clancy Art Exhibition
- Venue: Star Theatre – 117 Lloyd St. Dimboola
- Time: 5.00 pm – 10.00 pm
The Costumed Street Party [T]
- Venue: Dimboola Town Centre – Lloyd St. & Lochiel St.
- Time: 5.00 pm – 11.00 pm
Costumed Street Party Program
Dimboola Town Centre
6.00 – 6.30 pm
Horsham Rural City Band & Children’s Lantern Procession
Library Veranda Stage
6.30 – 10.30 pm
- Bogomila and Son, The Balkan Gypsy Reader
Created by Annie Lee (Kransky Sisters)
- Horsham Rural City Band - TBC
- Best Costume Competition hosted by Neil Grigg
Tower Park Wonderland
5.00 – 10.00 pm
- The Magic of Metals Show
- Hall of Mirrors
- The Giant Head
Pinball Alley on Lochiel Street
Aggie’s Lane Cabinet of Curiosities Immersive Exhibition
Lochiel St Stage
- 5.00 - 6.30 pm - Alchemy of Rhythm
- 6.45 - 7.15 pm - Luke Blaze
- 7.30 - 9.00 pm - Head Rush
- 9.15 - 9.45 pm - Luke Blaze
- 10 - 11.00 pm - Mitch Tambo
Lloyd St Stage
- 5.00 - 6.00 pm - Ghost Owned
- 7.00 - 8.00 pm - Blackbirds FC
- 8.00 - 9.00 pm - Gypsy Love Muscle
- 9.00 - 10.00 pm - Szara Fox & The Midnight Secrets
Sunday 13 April
Linda Gallus & Kaye Clancy Art Exhibition
- Venue: Star Theatre – 117 Lloyd St. Dimboola
- Time: 9.00 am – 10.00 pm
Angela Walker Art Exhibition
- Venue: Dimboola Shire Hall – 101 Lloyd St. Dimboola
- Time: 10.00 am – 2.00 pm
High Tea [T]
Seymour Heritage Railway Centre & West Wimmera Shire Council
- Venue: Serviceton Historical Station
- Time: 12.45 pm
Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street [T]
- Venue: Dimboola Memorial Secondary College – 66 Ellerman St. Dimboola
- Time: 1.00 pm
* - Program subject to change - The Dimboola Courier reserves the right to correct any errors in this program.
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