Orange will play host to one of the nation's first festivals in the wake of coronavirus shutdowns after Orange360 announced the Winter Fire Festival will go ahead in 2020.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
This year will be the third year of the event, with smaller events focusing on food and Indigenous culture, will also feature a video subscription, with content exploring the Central West from July 31 to August 16.
Larger events such as the night market at Millthorpe and Argentinian asado at the Showgrounds won't be returning due to coronavirus restrictions.
Australia's first regional subscription video on demand platform, to be called Very Local Streaming Service, will showcase "several digital channels" featuring locally produced content and a Slow TV channel.
Four in-person events have been announced in Carcoar and Orange alongside the VeryLocal catalogue.
Orange360 General Manager Caddie Marshall said she was "thrilled" to announce the festival will be going ahead in 2020.
"The current COVID-19 pandemic presented us an opportunity to review the format and delivery of the festival for this year and has generated some really creative and interesting additions, making it a far more layered and immersive festival program," Ms Marshall said.
"In what will be our region's first festival since the easing of restrictions, we have positioned the health and safety of both our local community and our visitors has paramount in every aspect of planning.
"We are pleased to bring the Winter Fire Festival to life for 2020 in new and exciting ways."
The in-person events will include a fusion of First Nations and southern Italian cuisine at Antica Australis in Carcoar, a smoke and fire dinner at Philip Shaw Wines, the premiere of the docudrama short film Inferno, from award winning Orange-based filmmaker Samuel Rodwell, about firefighters on Mount Canobolas, astronomy experience Fires in the Sky at Dindima Wines.
She said the streaming service would "take audiences into the depths of the Central West winter", with stories and shows about top class chefs and sommeliers, artisans, indigenous astronomy and the local environment.
With so much hitting audiences daily from global streamers, we offer a soul-satisfying celebration of the very local.
- Very Local Streaming Service creative director Alexandra Bourke
Highlights include former Rockpool chefs presenting high stakes cooking demonstration "Do Not Try This At Home" and "Wine Tasting with Mary and David", a virtual wine tasting event hosted by top local sommeliers Mary Nelson and David Collins.
The Slow TV channel highlights include a meditative trip into the local mountainside forests with kangaroos, knitting by the fireplace and scenes from regional farms and vineyards.
The platform is led by creative directors Alexandra Burke, of Arcadia Films, co-founder of the FBi SMAC Award nominated arts platform Prototype and Bec Janek of Brick Road Pictures, producer of Cannes official selection 2018 film Dots.
Ms Burke said the streaming service was groundbreaking.
"As the first regional streaming platform in Australia, if not the world, it offers a very different and compelling experience," she said.
"The line-up satisfies for many reasons as it presents experts in their respective fields, whilst offering an intimate entry into a community.
"With so much hitting audiences daily from global streamers, we offer a soul-satisfying celebration of the very local."
More events are expected to be added between now and the festival's opening on July 31.
The 2020 Orange Winter Fire Festival program and ticket links can be found online at www.orangewinterfirefestival.com.au with new events added daily.