Free CBD parking ahead of sold out Moomba Festival long weekend

Details of how you can get free parking over the Labour Day long weekend have been revealed. The initiative is set to coincide with the Moomba Festival.

More than 40,000 people will be at the Moomba Festival.

To coincide with the Moomba Festival, free parking is being offered in the CBD over the Labour Day long weekend.

All 40,000 tickets have been booked for the festival after the entire event was almost cancelled two weeks ago.

Melbourne Councillor Roshena Campbell said the free parking — which isn’t restricted to people attending the festival — will encourage people from across the state to enjoy the city.

“This long weekend we want people from regional Victoria and across Melbourne to park in the city for free and enjoy some of the world’s best bars, restaurants, shops, galleries and theatres,” she said.

To access the free parking in the city, motorists will need to park their vehicle between midday this Friday and 11.59pm on Monday in areas displaying a green sign.

Time limits, disabled parking restrictions, clearways, no standing zones and residential permit restrictions still need to be observed.

Tickets are still available for events at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl to see The Cat Empire, Vika and Linda and the Kids at the Bowl performances with Jimmy Giggle, Justine Clarke, Dan Sultan and Pevan & Sarah.

On Monday a trio of everyday Victorians dubbed “COVID-19 community heroes” were named this year’s Moomba monarchs.

Previous monarchs have been well-known public figures, including Jane Bunn, Shane Warne and Natalie Bassingthwaighte.

But in a fresh twist — and on the back of a challenging year — everyday Melburnians will be celebrated in 2021.

Picture: Ian Currie

Professor Kirsy Buising, Pravini Fernando and Drew Law have been crowned as the 2021 monarchs and will represent the frontline workers who got us through COVID-19.

Find out more about the monarchs here.

In previous years, Moomba has brought in over $30m of economic activity to the city but with restricted crowd numbers the total revenue from this year’s event is expected to fall short of that figure.

The extra 40,000 visitors is welcome news to the City of Melbourne Council, who hope added tourism will help boost the city economy.

Last month new data revealed the impact COVID-19 has had on shops in the Melbourne CBD.

In a report presented to council, data collected found 29 per cent of shopfronts are shut including 15.28 per cent which were temporarily closed due to COVID-19.