Vol. No. Vol. 2318No. 10 27
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Wednesday, January 13, 2016 Wednesday, September 2, 2020
DOTING DAD: Horsham’s Jay Gasparini will celebrate a special Father’s Day on Sunday following the birth of his first child. Jay and fiancée Nadinne Riddell welcomed Mia Jessica Gasparini at Wimmera Base Hospital in Horsham on August 26, weighing 2.6 kilograms. Jay said he was excited to become a father and looked forward to seeing Mia ‘grow up into the girl she is going to be’. “I just want to spoil her,” he said. The family of three will spend a quiet day together on Sunday, enjoying their ‘newborn bubble’. “We can’t really do too much at the moment because of restrictions,” Jay said. “I’ll probably just spend the day looking at Mia – she’s a time-waster.” Nadinne said she loved watching Jay bond with their daughter. “Jay has taken to being a dad like a duck to water,” she said. “He’s just been amazing, doing the nappy changes and dressing her and helping us both with anything we’ve needed. We’re very lucky.” For more on Father’s Day, see pages 22 and 23. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER
Festival makeover A
BY DEAN LAWSON
large musically synchronised fireworks display that people can watch from their cars or in isolation is set to headline a new-look Kannamaroo Festival in Horsham later this year. The ‘pyromusical’ is one of several community-engagement ideas festival organisers are planning in efforts to provide the Horsham district community with a sense of ‘hope and solidarity’. Plans for the November 27, 28 and
29 event involve staging creative activities that will meet social-distancing requirements and, unlike traditional Kannamaroo events, avoid large gatherings of people. If successful, the festival might provide a rough template for other large-scale regional events at risk of cancellation in the future because of the coronavirus pandemic. Organisers of the iconic event, which for many in the Wimmera’s heart signals a transition from spring to summer and a build-up to Christmas, are determined the celebration
will go ahead – but in a vastly different format. Committee president Di Bell said ‘hope’ was the theme for this year’s festival and plans were for many different types of events spread across the rural city. “Yes, we’re having a festival, but unlike other years we’re not closing the main street or any streets to allow thousands of people to gather,” she said. “It is time to think about having modified festivals and that means getting creative.
“We’re determined it is going to happen in some way. It’s about thinking outside the square. “Life has changed and we need to adapt. We can’t just say we’re not running things. “To be honest, we’re actually quite excited about what’s happening. “The ideas that are surfacing are amazing. “Kannamaroo Festival has a history of responding to change. “It was, after all, originally a riverbank party and had to change because of a long-running drought.
“We’re simply changing again with a fresh set of circumstances.” Mrs Bell said any community-engagement activity would obviously need to adhere to COVID-19 restrictions in place at the time. “The idea is to have events spread out over town and in venues where we can limit and control the number of people or where they can experience something in relative isolation, perhaps with their families,” she said. Continued page 3
IN THIS ISSUE • Ararat development • Tribute to ‘Dasher’ • New cricket protocols Phone: 03 5382 1351 Read it online: www.theweeklyadvertiser.com.au
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