There are two sides to every story.
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The Biggest Loser is in town and it has had some amazing flow on effects for the health of the town.
But it has also had some negative effects for our CBD business owners, who last Saturday missed out on valuable Mother's Day trade due to Barkly Street being closed for much of the day.
It was an unfortunate choice of day for filming the promotion - the day before Mother's Day is one of the biggest trading da ys for many businesses and the street was described as a 'ghost town' on Saturday morning by one business owner.
Perhaps the suggestions of business owners who wrote letters to the editor in today's edition (see this page) such as using Green Hill Lake, the trotting track or the race course could be considerd in future.
They would be out of the public domain and trade could be continued as normal.
However, you can see why The Biggest Loser used Barkly Street, it screams 'Ararat', and it is Ararat they are showcasing on the TV show.
While the damage is done, perhaps more thought can be put into choosing filming locations in future, and perhaps Ararat Rural City Council should have consulted more with business owners before allowing Barkly Street to be closed.