February 16, 2022
South Burnett councillors have given in-principle support to a community group’s plan to build a “Big Avocado” in front of the Archie Muir Centre in Blackbutt.
At last week’s Communities Standing Committee meeting, councillors were told Bloomin’ Beautiful Blackbutt Festival Inc – the organisers of the annual Blackbutt Avocado Festival – had identified a potential site for the statue in front of the Council offices in Les Muller Park.
However, the committee needed Council’s formal agreement for the proposed site and a letter of support so they could begin seeking external funding for the statue’s design and concept plan.
Once approved, the concept plan would form the basis for commissioning an artist to build the sculpture.
Councillors were told that once the sculpture was completed, the committee intended to hand over ownership of the finished artwork to Council, where it would become a park asset and would be maintained under Council’s normal asset management principles.
Councillors agreed to the request unanimously.
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The latest push to create a Big Avocado began in earnest last February when Bloomin’ Beautiful Blackbutt Festival Inc received a grant from the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal to employ an Arts Officer, who was tasked with developing a five-year arts strategy for the town.
The idea for the Big Avocado statue had first come up in the Festival committee’s discussions, and it was introduced as an option at the community consultations held while the strategy was being developed.
It received such a positive response that last July a competition to design a Big Avocado statue attracted 82 entries.
The project was included in the final strategy when it was released last October, and over the past three months committee members have been evaluating potential sites for the statue.
The Les Muller Park site was chosen because of its central location.
The park also provides facilities such as public toilets, seats and benches that would be appreciated by tourists stopping off to view the sculpture, and there is easy parking nearby.
However, while the site question may now be settled the final format of the statue is not.
Olivia told southburnett.com.au a “walk-in” Big Avocado had been ruled out but the size of the statue, the materials it would be built from and what form it would take were still to determined.
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