The ChillOut Grand Parade is becoming a bit of a circus but the Sunday, March 9 event in Vincent Street, Daylesford is shaping up to be a real crowd pleaser. 

The Amazing Mill Market director, and avid collector of weird and wacky stuff,rMark Ward is bringing in a new member of his family, and introducing her to the crowds on the day. 

Tipping the scales at 300 kilograms, but no fat shaming please, Elle is a fully motorised elephant. 

She was built in Disneyland for Myer Adelaide to attract more children to the store. But plans do sometimes go awry. 

Rather than attract more customers, Elle was so life-like she actually scared the kids away. And was quietly retired from her department store position. 

Luckily, Mark saw her merits, paid thousands for his new pet, and proudly drove her from Adelaide to Geelong in the back of his ute – gaining attention from numerous newspapers and even a police escort for part of the way. 

“Elle looks so alive, she blinks her eyes, moves her tail and flaps her ears. That was the best drive I have ever done.” 

Elle will be ridden down Vincent Street, decked out in circus gear, in keeping with ChillOut’s Big Top theme, and hopefully will not scare any children. 

Meanwhile, over at The Local, plans are underway for a clown car – complete with journalists and photographers. 

Editor Donna Kelly said TL HQ was generally “a bit of a three-ringed circus so it’s not too much of a stretch to put together the clown car float”. 

The Local is a media partner with ChillOut – a partnership which started in 2014. See you over the weekend! 

Words: Kyle Barnes

Words: Eve Lamb | Images: Kyle Barnes

WORK has begun to create a significant new attraction that’s projected to bring tens of thousands more visitors to Daylesford each year.
The man behind development of the new museum specialising in Australian history and Australiana is Mark Ward, already known to many through his multiple Amazing Mill Markets ventures including at Daylesford.
The entrepreneurial Mark, is in no doubt that the new Amazing Mill Markets Museum, now being developed on the same site as Daylesford’s Amazing Mill Market, will be the “biggest and best of its kind in Australia”, and that the flow-on economic benefits to the locality will be considerable.
“It’ll be without a doubt the best museum of its kind in Australia with beautiful cars, massive steam engines, and all aspects of Australian history including automotive, rural, industrial and commercial Australiana,” Mark says.
His personal passion for carnival, circus and sideshow memorabilia will ensure these aspects of the nation’s history and culture are also well represented in the new museum.
“The undercover area is just under a quarter acre in size and it will have a glass atrium down the centre,” Mark says.
“Building has already started. The total cost of the build and fit-out will be just over $2 million.
“The museum will have themed areas with high-tech lighting and 12 interactive screens to tell people about the items. The collection is valued in excess of $10 million and includes 23 magnificently restored cars.”
Work is scheduled for completion at the end of May 2023 with the interior fit-out then anticipated to take three months before the new attraction opens to the public later in the year.
“We anticipate opening in September-October,” Mark says.
“We’re creating a worthwhile destination for people to come to from all over Australia and overseas to spend several hours.
“Rest assured it will be the best of its type in Australia. This museum will bring millions of dollars to Daylesford every year. We are going to attract another 10,000 to 15,000 people into Daylesford per month.”
It’s not the only one of his projects that Mark is currently keenly watching take shape, with another exciting development set for Bendigo’s historic Flour Mill precinct, following the sale of the Amazing Mill Market at Ballarat.
“We have sold the Mill Market at Ballarat but we will be opening another one at the Flour Mill site in Bendigo,” Mark says.
“It will also include specialty shops and five-storey accommodation at the Bendigo Flour Mill precinct. The Bendigo Flour Mill is an historic building and we will be retaining as much of the infrastructure as possible.”
The $24 million Bendigo Flour Mill precinct development will be staged over five years and will also include a small museum, bar and bistro on site, Mark says.