The City of Greater Bendigo council voted on Monday to keep Bendigo Cup Day as a public holiday, despite 53.5% of businesses preferring Melbourne Cup Day due to operational concerns. The decision came after a community survey with 2,672 responses where 38% supported keeping the current holiday and only 36.5% wanted to change it to Melbourne Cup Day. Mayor Thomas Prince acknowledged the slim majority while stressing local pride and economic benefits of retaining the Bendigo Cup holiday, which is estimated by IER to generate between $2.9 million and $3.2 million in economic activity for 2025.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-22,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
On Monday night, the City of Greater Bendigo council voted 4-1 to keep Bendigo Cup Day as the local public holiday for another five years. The decision followed a community survey with 2,672 responses, making it the third most engaged survey ever conducted by the council. Although a slim majority supported retaining the race-day holiday, many businesses expressed concerns over operational issues. Residents in the municipality east of the Campaspe River, including Heathcote, will continue to observe Melbourne Cup Day as their public holiday. The council's decision now awaits approval from the state government, which has the final say on local public holidays. Bendigo Cup Day will take place on Wednesday, October 28, a week before Melbourne Cup Day.
Written for “Victorian Council Public Holiday Vote” on 2026-10-05,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
In short:
Bendigo will retain a public holiday for Bendigo Cup Day after council voted on Monday to keep the date following community consultation.
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council → retain → consultation
A small margin of community respondents voted to keep the date, while a majority of businesses wanted a change, citing operational concerns.
What's next?
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What → vote → concerns
The council will apply to the state government, which makes the final decision on local public holiday arrangements.
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which → apply → arrangements
A Central Victorian council has been drawn into a local public holiday debate, backing a slim majority of locals who wanted to keep a controversial race-day holiday.
The City of Greater Bendigo council voted on Monday night to keep Bendigo Cup Day as the local public holiday for another five years.
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council → draw → years
The 4-1 vote to retain the current arrangement will see part of the shire taking a public holiday on Wednesday, October 28, a week prior to the Melbourne Cup.
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part → retain → Cup
Residents in the municipality east of the Campaspe River, including Heathcote, will continue to observe Melbourne Cup as its public holiday.
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Residents → include → holiday
The decision followed a community survey that drew 2,672 responses, with mayor Thomas Prince calling it the council's "third most ever engaged survey".
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Prince → follow → it
The meeting saw councillors vote in line with the slim majority of respondents.
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councillors → see → respondents
About 38 per cent of survey respondents said they wanted to keep Bendigo Cup Day holiday, while 36.5 per cent preferred Melbourne Cup Day and 24.7 per cent preferred the Friday of the Bendigo Show.
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cent → say → Show
Meanwhile, just over half of businesses surveyed, making up 4 per cent of the responses, called for the date to be changed to Melbourne Cup Day, citing business operation concerns and alignment with the rest of the state as reasons to switch.
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date → survey → reasons
The mayor told the meeting he was "challenged" by the survey.
"
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he → tell → survey
It feels like a popularity contest around what the community want," Cr Prince said.
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Prince → feel → what
"Most of our contributors, I think, will be related to the sports racing industry and the jockey club and those at the Bendigo Show, and they're very self-invested ideas and opinions.
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they → think → Show
"What's best for Bendigo … is that we want our own holiday.
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we → want → holiday
We want a chance to celebrate who we are."
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we → want → chance
Eppalock Ward councillor Aaron Spong was the only councillor to vote against the motion, arguing the business feedback deserved more weight.
"Tradition does matter, but so does practicality," Cr Spong said.
"Local pride matters, but so does business certainty.
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certainty → vote → weight
Epsom Ward councillor Andrea Metcalf, who moved the motion, said analysis by consulting firm IER and council data put the 2025 Bendigo Cup's local economic activity at between $2.9 million and $3.2 million, with more than 6,500 people attending the cup.
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people → move → cup
The Bendigo Show draws about 20,000 people across its two days, five days before the cup.
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Show → draw → cup
"Both the show and the cup can be successful under the current arrangement," Cr Metcalf said.
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Metcalf → say → arrangement
Cr Prince told ABC Central Victoria Breakfast the alternative of moving the holiday to Show Day would have come at the Bendigo Cup's expense.
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alternative → tell → expense
"To elevate that to probably potentially completely squash the Bendigo Cup day also just didn't make sense," he said.
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he → elevate → sense
The Bendigo Jockey Club welcomed the vote, with chief executive Paul Scullie saying the club had heard "the importance of ensuring our business community benefits from the public holiday" and wanted racegoers to "shop locally, stay locally, eat and drink locally".
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racegoers → welcome → holiday
The council will now apply to the state government, which makes the final decision on local public holiday arrangements.
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which → apply → arrangements
The Aporia