The Orange Winter Fire festival will proceed later this month as local tourism businesses begin to bounce back following forced closures to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

Celebrating it’s third year in 2020, the three-day Orange Winter Fire Festival (July 31st – August 2nd) showcases Orange and its surrounding villages at their winter best.

While thrilled the festival will proceed as planned in 2020, Orange360 General Manager Caddie Marshall, said the format has naturally had to change in order that people can adhere to all social distancing restrictions.

“In considering how best to approach what will be our region’s first festival since the easing of restriction, we have positioned the health and safety of both our local community and our visitors as paramount in every aspect of our planning,” said Caddie.

The night market at Millthorpe, a highlight of previous festivals, has obviously had to be cancelled and a smaller number of intimate events will make up the in-person program.

But in a coup for Orange, the 2020 Orange Winter Fire Festival will feature the launch Australia’s first regional SVOD (subscription video on demand) platform, called Very Local Streaming Service (VeryLocal).

From 31 July to 16 August 2020 VeryLocal will take audiences into the depths of the Central West winter, as it features top class chefs and sommeliers, artisans, indigenous astronomy and a dedicated Slow TV channel featuring a meditative trip into the local mountainside forests with kangaroos, knitting by the fireplace and scenes from regional farms and vineyards.

Caddie said they had had doubts the festival would proceed, but the success of the June long weekend and subsequent online demand gave them the confidence to proceed.

“The long weekend was huge! Orange was booked out for the entire weekend and the villages had about 100 percent occupancy on the Saturday night with Sunday almost booked out,” she said.

“And even our mid weeks at the moment are quite strong and the school holidays are looking really good as well.”

“[Online traffic] is absolutely up on last year and at this time last year we were just coming to the tail end of our ‘Extend the Weekend’ campaign, so our numbers are actually above that — it's extraordinary!

“People are wanting to travel and it is a real opportunity for us.”

The 2020 Orange Winter Fire Festival program and ticket links can be found online at www.orangewinterfirefestival.com.au with new events added daily.
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