Mayoral Column 19th January 2017

Tarago Fire

At the time of writing the blaze in Tarago is still out of control and our fire fighters are faced with an extremely difficult day of hot weather and wind.  Praise must go to our firemen and women involved in fighting this blaze and protecting property, and my heart goes out to those who have been affected. Let’s hope they can get the fire under control today and the loss of property, homes and stock is minimal.

Australia Day 2017

Australia Day is around the corner and we have a huge day planned for the 26th of January in Victoria Park. This year our Australia Day committee has decided we will celebrate all things country and rural, and we have the perfect ambassador in local country artist Roo Arcus.

The day will kick off at 8:30am with a BBQ breakfast and run until 3pm. There will be produce markets and stalls, a mechanical bull, farmyard animals, a kids zone, wheelbarrow and hay competitions, rubber boot throwing and a bush hat competition with the chance to win one of two brand new Akubras! We will also have our Mobile Information Centre (Vickie) and Mobile Library at the park for all to see.

The official ceremony including the Australia Day awards and a Citizenship Ceremony will kick off at 11am, and this will be followed by a live performance from Roo at 12:15pm. Make sure you drop into Victoria Park at some stage on Australia Day!

Aussie Hat competition – Akubra prizes

A more detailed note about this competition – we would love to see people’s best ‘bush hat’ on the day. If you’ve done decades of work in the same hat bring it along and we will judge them all at 10:15am at the stage in Victoria Park. Two lucky winners will receive a brand new Akubra!

Blues Festival

The Australian Blues Music Festival is on again in February, this year celebrating its 21st year from the 9th – 12th February. There will be over 70 free performances across 11 venues over the weekend, as well as the annual busking competition, and the Australian Blues Music awards.

Council is partnering with the RMS to provide free bus transport between 2-3pm and 5-6pm to the venues on Friday and Saturday, as well as having two hundred $10 taxi vouchers for use to get home safely. I’ll provide more information on these great services closer to the weekend of the event.