“There is nothing to do in this town……..”
Do you still hear this statement being quoted around town? I know I do; and what a total load of bull it is.
I was speaking with Tony from ‘What’s on in Gympie’ on Friday, funnily enough, about what was on in Gympie for the weekend and I was blown away by what was happening.
One such event was Gympie Regional Council’s Arts and Culture forum to which I was delighted to be invited by GRC as a speaker. The most amazing thing is, it was just one of three separate events running in the Civic Centre alone that day. In fact there are so many events and functions on in Gympie each and every weekend that it is impossible to get to all of them. That is just how wonderful our region is.
Did you know, Garapine, only 15 minutes drive from Gympie, was host to a state mountain bike event on Sunday? I took the family out there and my boys were enthralled.
When I think about just that one single event, the potential numbers make my head spin. There was 170 entrants, which means potentially 300 people including families and supporters. That is potentially 300 beds for the night, 300 pub meals on Saturday night. 300 people walking through our town centre, 300 people eating sushi for lunch on Saturday in Mary Street and the potential goes on.
Sporting events like these are just one of the multitudes of ‘things to do’ in Gympie on the weekend. It can’t come to you – so you need to get out and support these events so they continue to grow in our town.
Now, before lighting your torches, sharpening your pitchforks and rage typing a letter to Shelley at the GT. I know these numbers are only potential, I know some people may have driven up on the day and so on and so forth. I am speaking about them wanting to come to town. Are we inviting them to town? We need to take every opportunity to show off how great our town is.
It is nearly November and that means the release of the findings of the ‘Better Pathways to Planning’ project is just around the corner. We are really looking forward to working with the GRC on this. Hopefully we will have the report before the breakfast meeting on the 13th at the Golf Club.
In more exciting news coming out of the GRC, we are getting closer to the release of the Economic Development strategy. We are waiting with bated breath to get our hands on a copy of that one and see what it has in mind for the future of Gympie business.
See you for breakfast on the 13th.
Brendan Allen
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