2026 Parade Management Contract

The Ballarat Begonia Festival is a garden-based event, highlighting our city’s natural assets and creative community as well as profiling our unique and rare collection of Begonias, in a fun and entertaining environment. The Begonia Festival was established in 1953 and remains a culturally significant event for Ballarat. The City of Ballarat delivers the Ballarat Begonia Festival to attract visitors to Ballarat, to promote our city as a vibrant, active, and nature-based destination and to strengthen community pride as part of Ballarat’s story by remaining accessible to all.

FESTIVAL VISION

• Engaging and impactful experiences that attract interest
• Be driven by collaborative and creative community and commercial partnerships (co-creation)
• Adapt to environmental and social change
• Have a significant positive economic impact on the city

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

The City of Ballarat is requesting quotations from event management companies to develop, implement and project manage the 2027, 2028 and 2029 Begonia Parades (3-year term), as outlined in the document below.

The parade takes place on the Labour Day public holiday each year and runs along Wendouree Parade, adjacent to the Ballarat Botanical Gardens. It has a long, rich history and is an integral community component of the Ballarat Begonia Festival.

The purpose of the parade is to provide community groups, schools, community bands and businesses with an opportunity to participate and showcase the true community spirit of Ballarat. This opportunity seeks to encourage creativity and collective participation that fosters community pride.
The vibrancy and quality of the parade participants in recent years has been the driving force behind its success. The parade aims to continue to build upon this creative momentum to attract greater quality participation and therefore increase spectator numbers.

Early engagement with community groups, businesses and school groups will be a key factor to encourage greater involvement and allow more time for entrants to be unique and creative with their entries. The creative direction for the parade will be brainstormed with the successful contractor each year before the final direction is approved by Council.

For the three years covered in this agreement, the parade will take place on 

• Monday 8 March 2027
• Monday 13 March 2028
• Monday 12 March 2029

 The Parade contractor is required to undertake curatorial/artistic direction of the parade to ensure it is engaging, colourful and caters for the needs of each individual entrant (e.g. animals, vehicles, bands and the like).

The parade is designed to inspire creativity among entrants and foster healthy competition. To support this, five awards will be presented across the categories listed below. These awards aim to generate interest in the categories and offer Council an opportunity to promote local businesses and community groups through the additional publicity associated with winning.

Judging of the awards will be undertaken by the City of Ballarat Councillors. The Parade contractor will assist Council with both the judging process and the presentation of the awards.

THE AWARD CATEGORIES

• Mayor’s Choice Award
• Best School Entry
• Best Community Group Entry
• Best Business Entry and
• Best Musical Entry

The cost of these trophies is included in the Parade contractor’s overall fee. Final trophy designs must be submitted to Council for approval prior to purchase.

PARADE KEY OBJECTIVES

• To actively encourage community involvement and engagement
• To facilitate existing and new initiatives of the Parade which endeavour to create partnerships between community groups, schools, and businesses to create diverse and colourful ‘significant impact’ entries
• To coordinate all operational and logistical components of the parade in a safe and effective manner

STAKEHOLDER MANEGEMENT

• Regular communication with the Ballarat Begonia Festival Lead Event Officer from the City of Ballarat
• Coordinate and liaise with an existing parade participant database, plus any new parade entrants for 2027, 2028 and 2029
• Coordinate and liaise with the following stakeholder groups as directed by Council:
  • Supervisor Lake Wendouree (CoB)
  • Residents
  • Multicultural Groups
  • Community Groups
  • Sporting Clubs
  • Local Schools
  • Local Businesses
  • Local Emergency Services
  • Ballarat Tramway Museum / Powercor (use of the power poles for PA system)

MARKETING

• All marketing will be undertaken by Council. The successful contractor will be responsible for providing timely and accurate information to assist with the promotion of the parade
• No direct communication with the media by the contractor is required or permitted
• The successful contractor will need to arrange talent (parade participants) for a dedicated Parade Media Op each year. The parade organiser will need to be present at this Media Op as the on-site contact for parade participants and media enquiries
• The contractor will be required to provide Council with frequent progress updates on the status of parade entries for media opportunities and promotion via communication channels (e.g. website, social media)

DELIVERY OF THE PARADE OPERATIONS AND LOGISTICS

(including but not limited to):

• Operational and Risk Management Plans – specifically outlining how the marshalling staff will manage the parade on the day, OHS inductions, risk assessment and safety guidelines for floats
  NOTE: Prior to the parade the contractor is required to check each float and ensure it is compliant with safety guidelines set for the parade entrants
• Emergency Management Plans
• Induct all companies and persons working (paid or unpaid) at the event into Council’s Occupational Health and Safety online induction platform
• Road closure permits and management
• Notifications and other communications
• Piping of music and commentary along parade route, collaboration with the Parade Sponsor
• Signage for entrants

POST IMPLEMENTATION REVIEW AND ACQUITTAL PROCESS

• Within 4 weeks of the conclusion of the project each year, you will be required to submit a final written report and conduct a debrief presentation to the City of Ballarat
• The final report will consist, at a minimum, of
  • Outline of achievement of purpose, objectives, and deliverables
  • Photographic representation of the event; this can include but is not limited to infrastructure set-up, participation, audience etc
  • Lessons learnt and recommendations for future event direction
  • A breakdown of the final overall event budget

ITEMS FOR CONSIDERATION

• Consider the overall length of the parade, for participants and spectators alike, approximately 45 minutes
• Consider incentives for interested groups to create colourful ‘wow factor’ floats / parade entries
• Parade commentary – given the commentary happens in one place and doesn’t match what is in front of other parts of the crowd, how can this be delivered better
• Consider how the award winners may receive a greater profile during the parade as winners of their respective categories

CONTRACTOR OBLIGATIONS

• Provide a detailed brief outlining the proposed concept and content of your proposal, including;
• Outline of your proposed strategy for facilitating and creating spectacular entries.
• Proven operational experience, ability to deliver and resources available to you
• Manage and deliver all aspects of the parade to current Australian Standards and/or Local, State and Federal Laws
• Induct all companies and persons working (paid/unpaid) at the event into Council’s OHS course
• Be familiar and comply with the City’s Child Safe Policy
• Contract Security (Safety Officer) staff
• Ensure any persons working (paid/unpaid) who may encounter children have a valid Working with Children Check. This includes but is not limited to activity providers, entertainers, performers, event staff and volunteers

TERM

This is a three-year term agreement for the successful applicant however the budget for 2028 and 2029 will not be released until July 2027 and July 2028 respectively, conditions apply. The Applicant is also required to participate in the Delivery of the 2026 Parade and take part in a minimum of 2 planning meetings as a form of handover from the current parade management.

• Council will advise the successful event management company of any significant changes expected to the 2027 and 2028 parade budgets. Confirmation of the following years budget will be available at the commencement of each new financial year
• The chosen event management company may elect to opt out of the additional terms of the agreement no later than July of the year prior to the next subsequent Parade
• Council may elect to opt out of the additional terms of the agreement no later than July of the year prior to the next subsequent Parade; if funding was not to be available for the following year; or the contracted company did not deliver to the above brief and objectives.

INSURANCES

The successful contractor will be required to provide documentation of the following:

• A current public liability insurance policy with a minimum limit of indemnity of $20 million
• Statutory cover consistent with the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation & Compensation Act 2013 (if applicable)
• Evidence of the currency of above listed items at the request of Council, at any point during the life of the contract

APPLICATION TO INCLUDE

• CV / Resume / Biography of Company/Individuals
• Details of similar events and/or projects coordinated
• Valid Working with Children check(s)
• Photos of similar events coordinated previously (optional)
• Relative insurances

SELECTION CRITERIA

Please responded to the following requirements, your response will be assessed out of 100 marks – we have outlined the maximum marks per question response required.

PROJECT	/100
OH&S POLICIES AND PRODEDURES • Hold current a current public liability insurance policy with a minimum limit of indemnity of $20 million • What Occupational Health and Safety policies and procedures does your business implement to provide a safe workplace? See schedule A) OHS Checklist
LOCAL CONTENT • Locality of event management company to Ballarat	10
Background information on your business (e.g. are you a sole trader, a company, or an incorporated association).	10
Relevant experience in developing and/or managing a street parade or similar event (This may be via a CV)	20
Demonstrate ability to engage with local community groups	20
Demonstrate your ability to complete this event on time and on budget	15
Demonstrate your experience of managing key stakeholders on an ongoing basis	15
Demonstrate your ability to actively engage with council providing project updates on an ongoing basis.	10

The final successful applicant will be selected through a panel of Council Officers.

BUDGET AND PAYMENT

• The above objectives and deliverables must be achieved within a total parade management budget of $35,000 (ex GST) for each event year
• The budget is to be inclusive of your Event Management fee
• Except for the Event Management fee, all operational components of this event budget must be clear and transparent to Council
• The Parade contractor is to maintain financial confidentiality.

PAYMENT SCHEDULE	DELIVERABLES	AMOUNT
Milestone #1 (January 2026)	• Signing of Contract • Post initial briefing session. • Confirm training/ handover dates	Initial Deposit $2,000 + GST
Milestone #2 (July 2026)	• Prepare entry forms for Parade participant registration. • Work through applications • Finalise with Council the overall program theme / concept.	40% Parade Budget $16,000 + GST
Milestone #3 (February 2027)	• Prepare and distribute resident and business notification letters. Information to include the following – • Date • Time • Parade route • Detour information • Contact mobile number Summarize and review Parade registrations with Council Order new parade signage City of Ballarat Events Unit to provide two staff members to assist on parade day to; • Coordinate and escort Councillors • Disassemble parade groups Parade Day staff required to deliver event include marshals, safety officer, photographer and infrastructure (radios, PA system)	50% Parade Budget $17,000 + GST
Milestone #4 (April 2027)	• Provide a post event report • Debrief with events team	10% of total parade budget $2,000 + GST

SUBMISSIONS

All Expressions of Interest (EOIs) must be submitted via Vendor Panel. If you do not currently have a Vendor Panel account, please contact us at events@ballarat.vic.gov.au for assistance in setting one up. Submissions received outside of Vendor Panel will not be accepted.

Submissions should be submitted no later than 12:00pm Thursday 18th December 2025.

All submissions received will be assessed by an internal panel of Council Officers and all applicants will be notified of the outcome by Wednesday 24th December 2025.

For further enquiries regarding this process, you are invited to contact:
City of Ballarat–Events Unit
P: 5320 5500
E: events@ballarat.vic.gov.au