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                    Melbourne to safely ring in New Year’s Eve

                    Media release, Monday 16 November 2020
                    Fireworks will not form part of the City of Melbourne’s New Year’s Eve celebrations this year, with the focus instead on a COVID-Safe celebration of Melbourne’s famous food and wine culture.

                    The two-day dining experience is being delivered by the City of Melbourne, the Victorian Government and Melbourne Food and Wine Festival from Thursday 31 December 2020 to Friday 1 January 2021.

                    Taking inspiration from the piazzas and squares of Europe, dining precincts will be set up across the City of Melbourne, including some of the city’s most popular eat streets such as Flinders Lane and Little Bourke Street. 

                    Unique and pre-booked dining experiences will be available at more than 50 venues across these 11 city precincts.

                    • Little Bourke Street
                    • Little Collins Street
                    • AC/DC Lane
                    • Hardware Lane
                    • Russell Street
                    • Spring Street
                    • Flinders Lane
                    • Lonsdale Street
                    • Market Lane 
                    • Domain Road
                    • Docklands.

                    Melbourne’s New Year’s Eve fireworks display usually draws up to 400,000 people to the city, which would put both members of the public and Police and Emergency Services members at risk during a pandemic.

                    With attendees required to pre-book tickets, New Year Street Feasts is designed to bring people into the city across the two days without drawing mass crowds at once. 

                    Other major cities around the world have scaled back New Year’s celebrations this year, with London, Rio De Janeiro, Prague, and Dublin cancelling their fireworks displays. 

                    New Year Street Feasts is being delivered by the Victorian Government and the City of Melbourne through the $100 million Melbourne City Recovery Fund.

                    Tickets to New Year Street Feasts will be on sale to the public from Monday 23 November 2020. To find out about other New Year’s events in the city, visit What’s On Melbourne. Sign up for news and announcements about New Year Street Feasts at www.melbournefoodandwine.com.au

                    Quotes attributable to Lord Mayor Sally Capp:

                    “This has been an incredibly tough year and we want to mark its end by celebrating and supporting Melbourne’s wonderful cafes, bars and restaurants. 

                    “We are tailoring a program to safely encourage more patrons into our incredible and deserving hospitality businesses that have struggled through lockdown restrictions. 

                    “This is will be an opportunity to say goodbye to 2020, look forward to a brighter 2021 and thank every Melburnian for their efforts to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.”

                    Quotes attributable to Melbourne Food and Wine Festival CEO, Anthea Loucas Bosha:

                    “Melburnians are passionate food lovers. We’re very much looking forward to working with the city’s talented operators to create extraordinary dining experiences to ring in the New Year. With the help of City of Melbourne we’re adding thousands of restaurant seats across the city for the two-day event.”

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