ready to roar Bendigo’s newest dragon, Dai Gum Loong, is ready to be seen and heard for the first time this Easter during a magnificent display of Chinese culture. The countdown is on until Bendigo’s newest Chinese dragon, Dai Gum Loong, makes his debut in the 2019 Bendigo Easter Festival Gala Parade. Dai Gum Loong will headline a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle featuring a range of parading dragons to welcome him to his new home, including crowd favourite Sun Loong and Bendigo’s first-ever dragon, Loong.
“It’s been 49 years since Bendigo received a new dragon,” Anita says. “We always knew Sun Loong was not going to last forever and realised he would need to be conserved and replaced, but neither conserving a dragon nor buying a new one is a cheap thing to do.
It’s also a chance to bid farewell to Bendigo’s much-loved Sun Loong, who will retire from parading after this year and return to delight crowds only on special occasions.
“We set an ambitious goal of asking the Bendigo community, fans of the Bendigo Easter Festival and the wider Chinese community to help us raise the $750,000 we needed to restore Sun Loong and purchase Dai Gum Loong.
Golden Dragon Museum general manager Anita Jack says this year’s parade would be a special moment in Bendigo’s history and continue a proud tradition of parading dragons at Easter.
“The Golden Dragon Museum was blown away by the generosity of people and local, state and federal governments for their support of the project, and we cannot thank everyone enough.
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