The Birdman Rally, which drew large crowds to the shores of Lake Burley Griffin in the 1980s and 1990s to watch competitors launch homemade contraptions in search of fame and fortune, would return if Labor is re-elected next month.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr has used the first weekend of the formal ACT election campaign to announce he would bring the event for the first time in more than 30 years.
"We will celebrate the quirky side of our city's history by bringing back the Birdman Rally to Canberra Day and Saturday morning busking to a revitalised Garema Place," Mr Barr announced at ACT Labor's campaign launch on Saturday morning.
"It's part of our plan for the Canberra you love, but better."
Labor would also support the return of the Canberra Cannons to the National Basketball League. The team last competed in the 2002-03 season.
"Sport brings Canberrans together and Labor will make sure that we can continue to play, and enjoy, great sport in our backyard," Mr Barr said.
"A Labor government will actively support Canberra's first Big Bash cricket franchise, working with Cricket ACT to include the franchise into the next agreement with Cricket Australia to give Canberrans their own men's and women's BBL teams playing at Manuka Oval."
Mr Barr also revealed Labor was committed to finishing design and planning work on a new stadium at Bruce so construction could begin in 2028-29.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined Mr Barr at the party's campaign launch in Belconnen on Saturday morning, where he announced the federal government would invest another $25 million in housing projects in Coombs and Wright.
"Andrew Barr and his team have brought new energy and vitality to Canberra, while preserving the best of the old," Mr Albanese said.
"And I'm proud of the work our Labor governments have done together to secure the future of the national institutions that call Canberra home."
Mr Albanese told party faithful ACT Labor's program was focused on creating opportunities.
"By contrast, the Liberal campaign boils down to them complaining that they're sick of being in opposition and they want a turn in government," he said.
"That tells you so much about the different ways we look at the world. The Liberals think government is something they deserve.
"We know government is a privilege you have to earn - and it's a responsibility you have to meet."
A re-elected Labor government would also increase funding to artists, arts projects, organisations and centres by more than $5 million over the next parliamentary term.
"People in Canberra visit cultural venues and events more than anywhere else in Australia - with a particular focus on the performing arts. Seventy-two per cent of adults and 82 per cent of children attend at least one performing arts event each year in the ACT," Mr Barr said.
"That's why Labor is delivering a new 2000 seat Canberra lyric theatre as the first stage of the Canberra Theatre Centre transformation. The project will create a performing arts centre of national significance in the heart of the city."
The start date of Floriade would be earlier each year because of Canberra's warming climate, Labor said, while the Enlighten Festival in autumn would include drone shows in its program.
ACT Labor earlier announced it would begin work on a new aquatic centre at Commonwealth Park to replace the ageing Civic Olympic Pool.
"As work starts on a new aquatic centre, Labor will further progress detailed design and precinct planning for the convention and entertainment precinct," Mr Barr said.
"The 8000-seat entertainment centre will firmly place Canberra on the live music touring map and provide a venue for major indoor sporting events like basketball, netball and tennis."
Birdman Rally's 'quirky place' in Canberra history
The Birdman Rally was first held on March 17, 1985 at Regatta Point, organised by Capital 7 Television. The event was part of the Canberra Festival.
Entrants, who had to power their flying machines themselves, were enticed with a prize of $10,000 if they could manage to propel themselves 50 metres without touching the water.
George Reekie, who died aged 50 in 2017, and his father Colin were frequent and successful competitors in the Birdman Rally, gaining notoriety for their efforts. George Reekie had a successful career as an industrial engineer.
By 1992, 20,000 spectators came out to watch the spectacle, which included very serious entrants and others whose engineering efforts were more humorous than expertly-devised.
But Capital Television pulled out of the event in January 1995, saying it could "no longer sustain the high costs of staging the event". It had cost $40,000 to run in 1994.
The National Capital Authority in 2019 said it would be open to the return of the Birdman Rally after the Canberra Liberals said they would like to see the return of the event.
