Editor's Note

Hi Everyone,

It turns out that newspapers are a pretty good material to fashion all sorts of accessories, including skirts, hats, bowties and even pirate’s eye patches!

This is what we discovered anyway when our team joined the Great Barrier Reef Festival’s (GBRF) Rotary Street Parade on Saturday afternoon.

This was the first year we’d participated, and we had so much fun that we are already planning our outfits for next year!

Walking the Airlie Beach main street with the rest of the crew and our trusty distribution truck emblazoned with our branding was a very proud moment.

It was fantastic to be part of the event – handing out lollies to children with their hands eagerly outstretched, waving to the crowds and feeling ignited by the community spirit that embodies this fantastic local event.

The GBRF is a wonderful fixture in our annual events calendar, which made their recent announcement even sadder to digest.

As I am sure many of you are aware, a community chat post set alight rumours that this would be the last GBRF.

Fortunately, we were able to speak with the organisers who confirmed this was just a rumour, however, they announced that increased support was desperately needed in order for the event to continue into the future.

You can read the full story on page 3.

Most of the stress for organisers seems to be financial and I wonder if it would be possible for the already generous Council to find a few more dollars somewhere.

It seems that we are often hearing of events being cancelled these days, whether it be music festivals or community celebrations – and lack of funding is often the reason behind it.

So too are the resources, most importantly the volunteers.

Could you volunteer your time to help with the workload? The GBRF look for volunteers all year round, perhaps you could be part of the reason the event becomes more feasible for the selfless souls who keep it running each year.

Rach

Quote of the Week:

“No-one is you and that is your power” (Anonymous)

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