Welcome to this week’s editorial,
Spring is nearly upon us and those who stayed behind to face the winter are stirring in their dens. September is the start of celebrations in the Shire and today marks the start with the grand opening of the inaugural Sculptures on the Clyde that will see 24 large sculptures on display along the Clyde River foreshore between Starfish Deli and the Bridge, while 30 small sculptures will be displayed in the newly renovated space in the original Francis Guy shop at 5 Clyde Street. This is a fantastic initiative of the Batemans Bay Chamber of Commerce and Tourism and a must see for locals and visitors alike while it remains on display until Sunday 3 September 2017. Also coming up in the weeks ahead is the Granite Town Festival which is building a very strong following due to the hard work of its organising committee.
Having outgrown its base in Moruya township the festival will be held in its new quarters at the Moruya Racecourse that provides ample room with options for expansion. The line up this year is a tribute to the organisers as they have attracted the interest of some of Australia’s elite festival performers. The festival has grown from its roots of being the Moruya Jazz Festival that used to open with a trad-jazz march down the main street and lots of faux two toned cane hats where informal bands and jazz students played for no fee other than the appreciation of the audience. Those days are gone and now all the conditions that apply to hosting a festival require reams of paperwork, oodles of insurances, traffic management plans and the signatures of a rubberstamp collection of bureaucrats. So our local oragnisations who do go the extra yards to host and present Arts festivals, music festivals and food festivals need to all be highly commended. And be appreciated. The best way we can do that is to attend so be sure to have a look at the Sculptures on Clyde, go to the Granite Town Festival, attend the NelliJam at Nelligen in the coming weeks and prepare yourselves for a stunning River of Art festival and next year’s Narooma Oyster Festival. Until next, lei
