Heat and flack over light

I TOOK some flack last week because of a report that led people to thinking the Berwick Village Chamber of Commerce wanted to light up Wilson Botanic Park on a permanent basis.
Although I did not write the story it is well enough known that I have, since the Edrington Park Christmas lights festival was abandoned, lobbied privately, and with an occasional article to develop a similar festival in the village commercial centre.
To support this the chamber of commerce wants to light up the village for special events and this is a great idea.
Discussion has now centred on the feasibility of holding an annual lights festival in Berwick and I believe this can be done by holding a solstice celebration.
Solstice happens on the longest night of the year and is an age-old tradition in Europe held to celebrate the beginning of the lengthening days and sunlight.
But this needs money to start.
I have suggested that the Berwick Village Chamber of Commerce join forces with the Friends of Wilson Botanic Park and run the festival.
Wilson Botanic Park would be lit up during the 12 days of solstice and this would draw thousands of visitors to the park, to the City of Casey, and to Berwick Village.
Lights would be solar powered.
Traffic gridlock killed the wonderful festival of lights in Edrington Park Drive. But Berwick has a unique road system that would allow this festival to be a success.
By charging admission for cars to enter the park the town stands to easily generate $500,000 a year to be shared by the chamber and the friends group.
Other community organisations would pick up on fund-raisers by holding events and activities as part of the festival and create a tourist bonanza for the town and the City of Casey.
Traffic could be channelled from the Hallam Freeway at Narre Warren on the left lane, turn left into the park to drive through an array of lights depicting anything that designers can imagine with colourful flowers growing from the lake, pirate ships, and nursery rhymes.
Then turn left into the village where another lights spectacle would entertain visitors.
From the village the traffic would exit right into Bryn Mawr Boulevard over the bridge and right along Kangan Drive to the freeway.
This provides opportunity for a free flow of cars, albeit slowly, and opportunity for Beaconhills College, Chisholm Institute, and Monash University to attract visitors to a range of fund-raising activities.
The university has space to light a traditional solstice bonfire and run associated activities.
Why do this?
I have been attending Berwick Village Chamber of Commerce meetings for more than 20 years and I see people striving to promote the village with little encouragement, few thanks, and little reward for effort.
The biggest problem is that there is never enough money to do anything worthwhile and 100 times I have heard promises of grants for this and grants for that, especially at election times.
We had three grants to pay consultants to develop strategies that were at best just so-so.
But there was no money left to do anything because the grants received were paid to the consultants.
Last month I sat and listened to the chamber treasurer read his report.
This leading chamber of commerce had $1200 in the bank and bills to pay.
The chamber does some great things and last Christmas paid for a television set that went to a family simply for putting a phone number on a list in a Berwick shop.
Berwick had a great show weekend including an animal nursery in the village.
The chamber arranged a commuter bus to relieve congestion around the showgrounds by enabling people to park in the village.
An estimated 1000 people used the free bus.
But there was a discussion about whether we could afford to pay for the bus.
Little things mean a lot to families, but we need a big event once a year to earn the money we need to pay for these little things, and I’m tired of seeing the chamber dangled on a string by politicians with offers of grants that rarely come and if they do are never ongoing.
We need to form a town committee to work for this and start small as they did in Tamworth, to make ‘the Berwick Lights Festival’ a household word and a must on destination and tourist lists.
We might even get a grant from the Tourism Victoria to help get started.