September 30, 2020
Goomeri’s main streets are looking a little brighter and happier this Spring thanks to an unusual initiative from a small group of volunteers and local businesses.
The group is replanting and repainting garden boxes along Boonara and Moore streets in the town’s CBD.
The planter boxes were originally installed by Kilkivan Shire Council many years ago but over time, the soil had become depleted and the concrete boxes had started to show their age.
Regularly tending them was also beyond the usual run of public works undertaken by Kilkivan Shire Council’s successor, Gympie Regional Council.
Several months ago a small group of community-minded residents met and decided that if the Council wasn’t tending the planter boxes, they’d do it themselves.
They discussed the matter with Gympie Council to find out if this was allowed (it was) and then asked several local businesses if they could chip in with supplies to help them carry out the work.
Goomeri Bakery, the Goomeri Pumpkin Festival, Murgon’s Mitre 10, Inspirational Paints at Gympie, Waterfall Feedlot, Goomeri Northern Agriservices and Nutrien Ag Solutions all agreed to help pay for the soil and fertilisers, and Felicity Dascombe and Barry Bishop supplied the wheelbarrows, shovels, trowels and transport.
The group held its first outing a few weeks ago, cleaning up and reinvigorating planter boxes at the Goomeri Bakery end of Moore Street.
On Saturday morning – in almost wintry conditions, thanks to the cold snap which passed through the region over the weekend – a hardy group of half a dozen braved the group’s second working bee on Boonara Street.
Between 9:00am and lunch-time the workers dug up and replanted several boxes along the street, much to the surprise of passing shoppers and the delight of store owners, some of whom contributed plants to the project.
Goomeri Pumpkin Festival co-ordinator Kim Boyter, who led the working bee, said the project was a small thing but the group hoped it would make a big difference to the town.
“These planters have been here for years, and they’ve just become tired and neglected over time,” Kim said.
“However, we hope by replanting and repainting them, they’ll bring some extra life and colour to the heart of town and help brighten everyone’s day.”
Kim said local shopkeepers had assured the group they would be happy to water the boxes outside their shops.
She was also confident that with warmer weather coming, the planters would look beautiful within a few months.
The group plans to continue their work along the remainder of Moore Street until all the CBD planter boxes have been attended to.
