Canberra’s official birthday party may have been a wordy, brainy, champagne-fuelled affair, but when it comes down to it, Canberrans just want to listen to bawdy breakfast radio hosts, look at flowers, mountains and fireworks, and go to the country’s biggest car show.
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That’s if the final results of the Like Canberra campaign are anything to go by.
The aim of the online Centenary of Canberra campaign, launched in October, was to find the top 100 reasons why locals like living in the capital.
After two months of polling, people had nominated almost 14,000 reasons why they liked it here – all of which were sorted into categories to begin the final narrow-down to 100.
Another 135,000 votes later, and the list was unveiled.
Floriade, or more specifically its night-time component Nightfest, came in at number one, followed by “fantastic views of the mountains”.
Scotty and Nige, the breakfast radio hosts from local music station FM104.7, were at number three, with the annual fireworks show Skyfire, hosted by the same radio station, at number four.
Number five was Australia’s biggest car festival, Summernats, held each summer at Exhibition Park.
Announcing the official list on Friday, ACT Arts Minister Joy Burch said that several “strong and consistent” themes had emerged as the votes were being counted.
“Some of our best-attended activities and events that proved very popular included the footy at Canberra Stadium, the balloon festival, the Multicultural Festival, and Summer Sounds at the Botanic Gardens,” she said.
“Canberrans are renowned for their love of food, and places such as the Farmers Market, Sammy’s Kitchen, High Tea at the Hyatt, Poachers Pantry and the weekend breakfast at Tilley’s all made it into the top 100.”
Three national institutions – the Australian War Memorial, Questacon and the National Zoo and Aquarium - made it into the top 10, as well as the Old Bus Depot markets and Brodburger, the café at the Canberra Glassworks that began its life as an ill-fated intruder in a red van by the lake.
The full list of the 100 most-liked things about Canberra was unveiled in Garema Place on a banner that will be moved around various Canberra institutions for the remainder of the year, including the Old Bus Depot Markets on Sunday.
“The Like Canberra [campaign] has reinforced what it is about living here in Canberra, the great pride that we feel in our city,” Ms Burch said.
And while there was more than one grumble that the popular radio hosts had only made it onto the list because of a concerted on-air campaign, the same could hardly be said of Canberra’s surrounding mountain ranges.
