There will be plenty of action to keep everyone entertained this Sunday at the Ben Hall Festival in Victoria Park.
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The festival in the park is one of the major events for Forbes’ Heritage Week 2015 and the Ben Hall Festival, which marks 150 years since the shooting of Ben Hall.
The event will kick off at 12pm and will feature a whole heap of colonial activities, as well as live music throughout the day and lots of market stalls and food vendors.
The Lachlan Living History Group will be doing a live reenactment of the Ben Hall Shooting, while a colonial show will be performed every hour on the main stage by a Sydney-based company.
“Every hour a colonial scene will be played out - there’ll be a bushranger scene, troopers recruitment scene, a Chinese and European miners scene and a miners court scene,” Forbes Shire Council’s marketing manager Sarah White said.
“There’ll also be an opportunity for people to have photos with the characters and to dress up in colonial costumes.”
The same company, Iconic Performances, will also be running a number of children’s colonial games from the 18th and 19th centuries.
Horse wagon rides will be running throughout the day and there will be an authentic musket demonstration.
There will also be a free bus going to and from Victoria Park to the cemetery to visit Ben Hall’s grave and other places of interest.
At 1pm, well-known author Peter Bradley will be giving a talk at Town Hall and there’ll be poetry by local poet, ‘Wirrinya’.
Ms White said the headline act of the day will be the performance by the great great nephew of Ben Hall, Nigel MacLean, who will premiere a special preview of original songs about his famous relative’s life.
MacLean will perform the songs with his band, ‘The man who dreamt he was Ben Hall’.
Ms White said they will be the final act of the day, starting at about 3.30pm on the main stage.
Entry to the Ben Hall Festival at Victoria Park is free and Ms White said it’ll be a great family day out.
“There’s been much build up and anticipation for the 150th anniversary event and we’re all looking forward to a great festival on Sunday,” she said.
“It will also be very special to welcome a number of Ben Hall’s descendents to Forbes for the anniversary.”
