A dry argument

IT’S enough to make you want to have an early morning drink. Circa 1902 — one of seven off-site venues for the Queenscliff Music Festival — came perilously close to hosting dry gigs this weekend. Despite a clean record during previous festivals, the Hesse St restaurant and cafe last month had its application for a temporary liquor licence during the QMF rejected. The Victorian liquor commission refused co-owner Chris Dinneen’s bid to set up a mobile bar on the veranda of his venue’s ground floor, where it would host live musicians.

The bar — supplying beer and wine in plastic cups — would only operate during the festival’s low-key sets on the veranda.

Gigs, from artists such as Forever Son and Al Parkinson, are due to start at 9.45am today and tomorrow, and run no later than 4.45pm.

But the alcohol authority took issue with the rise in the maximum number of patrons at the site from 40 to 100.

An appeal was brought forward ahead of this weekend’s sold-out festival, with the liquor commission overturning the original decision to grant an 11th-hour permit.

The addition of further security staff, an extra toilet (!) and free drinking water helped tip the balance in the venue’s favour.

So if you do check out any of the 11 gigs at Circa 1902 over the next two days, be sure to savour that refreshing ale or wine.

Picture: GLENN FERGUSON RIDING high on the back of confirmation that whoever wins power today will fund the $128 million final stage of its redevelopment, GPAC will launch its 2019 Theatre Season on Thursday. THE replacement event for Run Geelong failed to attract a sizeable crowd. But Run for Geelong’s Kids sure wasn’t helped along by a local politician, who very publicly snubbed the fundraiser. He was seen jogging past the event’s waterfront hub in regular gear, while paid-up runners in branded shirts ran the course in the opposite direction.