Cassowary Coast Regional Council

The last few weeks have seen a series of community events and celebrations that have been very successful, showcasing our region and our abilities.

We are already renowned for the achievements of our sporting and cultural identities. The recent events have been more to do with groups, working well together.

1. The indigenous cultural exhibition, presenting the art and culture of the Ma Mu peoples was well attended and very successful. It was important to see school groups coming through every weekday that the exhibition was open. The Cassowary Coast region has now hosted two groundbreaking indigenous events, this one and the Girrigun Festival in Cardwell a couple of years ago.
2. After many years of effort the refurbished clubhouse of the Etty Bay Surf Lifesaving Club has been officially opened at a ceremony there, during the recent Far North regional surf carnival. The greatly expanded facilities will be available for use by other community groups and privately for functions, which will help support the club.
3. The Innisfail Harvest Festival, the longest continually running festival in Queensland, attracted people from throughout the region. The contribution of the Rotary Clubs of Innisfail in organising this event is acknowledged. This event was in danger of folding which given its long history would have been very sad. It was wonderful to see the Samoan dancers from Tully enthusiastically participating, particularly at such a difficult time for them with the tsunami affecting their homeland only the week before.
4. The Cassowary Coast Walkathon in Tully raised over $50,000 for cancer research, with seventeen teams walking through the night in relays. Tully hosts the only walkathon in our region and organisers were very pleased with this year’s event, with teams coming from across the region from Cardwell to Innisfail and significantly more than the hoped for amount being raised.
5. The Biennial Innisfail Art Exhibition, held again in the Shire Hall for the first time since Cyclone Larry, was enthusiastically welcomed back with a good attendance on opening night and for the artist’s critique and Art Deco lecture and luncheon the next day.
6. The Innisfail Race Day was everything that a country race meeting should be. Good racing, prize money and trophies of a high standard, a well prepared and presented track and a large crowd enjoying the event and the company, with four bus loads of people coming from Tully this year.

Volunteers have contributed greatly to all these occasions and their assistance is essential and much appreciated.

Congratulations to all concerned.

As a region we can be very proud of our achievements and that we can offer such a diversity of community events for all to enjoy. It really has been quite an extraordinary few weeks.