Everything You Need To Know About Daly Bay Illuminate

Council is providing free buses to Daly Bay Illuminate this year to allow residents to access the showcase Mackay Festival of Arts event with greater ease.
For four nights, from Thursday, August 8, to Sunday, August 11, Queens Park will be transformed into a stunning showcase of art, light and creativity.
Each night from 6pm to 9pm, Daly Bay Illuminate will explode with bubbles, glow with fun and wonder, and vividly highlight the historic landmarks and natural beauty of Queens Park.

Major installations this year include:
The Bubble Lab with 12,000 bubbles springing to life every minute.
Fire Trees which simulate trees on fire with neon flex.
The rainbow layered Speckled Gums.
The Radiant Earthscape realm with moving lights rising from the ground.
The underwater wonderland that is Habitat.
The Insectarium – an installation that shines a light on the diversity and beauty of our local insects.

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Mayor Greg Williamson said Daly Bay Illuminate was a beautiful event for young families that attracted thousands of visitors.
“Daly Bay Illuminate is a tremendous showcase of the talents of many of our local artists and our MECC lighting and technical team who always put so much creativity into linking the various installations,” Mayor Williamson said.
“It’s also great to be able to feature one of our standout regional parklands – Queens Park is a beautiful park with historic trees, excellent accessibility and plenty of space for crowds to spread out and relax,” he said.
“We want every festivalgoer to be able to enjoy this spectacular event, so to cut down on parking congestion and to prevent those with little legs having to walk long distances during peak times, we have three free buses running from key locations.”
The wheelchair-accessible buses will run on 35-minute loops from 5.45pm to 10.30pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights (not Sunday) and deliver festivalgoers to Queens Park via the bus stop on Goldsmith Street.
Bus one will run from Caneland Central, bus two will run from Mount Pleasant/North Mackay and bus three will run from Ooralea/Nebo Road (includes city stop).
A full bus schedule and more information on Daly Bay Illuminate can be found at themecc.com.au/illuminate.
MECC Venue and Events Operations Manager Jemma Carey said Illuminate wasn’t wholly a visual spectacle – there was a culinary adventure to be had as well.
“We’ve got more than a dozen food vendors coming to the event, offering delicious dumplings, kebabs, woodfired pizzas, Brazilian barbecue, gourmet sausages, burgers, fried chicken, crepes and desserts like fairy floss and ice cream,” Ms Carey said.
“This is going to be a fantastic night out for the family and the team is excited to be able to share this wonderland of vivid colours and lights with our community and visitors to the region,” she said.

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For four nights, from Thursday, August 8, to Sunday, August 11, Queens Park will be transformed into a stunning showcase of art, light and creativity
 
Bubble Lab seamlessly blends the delicate beauty of bubbles with the vivid spectacle that is Daly Bay Illuminate

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