Murrumbidgee River lights up in first Illuminate event

Illuminate was one event in Wagga Wagga held over two days, and the city burst at the accommodation seams.

Inspired by Sydney’s Vivid festival event organisers Tim and Naomi McMullin from Borambola Wines responded to the lament “there was nothing to do in Wagga over Easter”.

“In the 2016 Easter, there was very little open around Wagga and they were swamped with locals and visitors searching for somewhere to go,” Mr McMullin said.

“There are many talented artists in the Riverina so we teamed with Eastern Riverina Arts, the Wagga City Council and a committee of experienced people to handle every aspect of such a multi-faceted event.”

Over the past decade, the Murrumbidgee River precinct has been relegated to invisible with only a massive concrete levee bank on show to most of the town. For the past year, the McMullins instigated and hold highly successful “Cork and Fork” evenings at the recently refurbished Wagga Beach, attracting thousands of people to experience Riverina food, music and conviviality.

“The river really is the heart and soul of this city which is why the installations were placed near and along it. Some of the artists required backdrops of the riparian zone, especially Vic McEwan from Birrego near Narrandera.

His installation, Specimen is made in collaboration with the living landscape. Taking images of specimens from the National Museum of Australia, this project attempts to explore human connection with and domination over the non-human world. He asks, by returning these objects to the landscape, can we create an emotional connection to them?

The perspex brain created by Lauren Jade was incredibly popular. A series of perspex slices lit with LED circuitry showing anatomy of the human brain, visitors could have a sensor attached to their head and, according to their mood, the colours were reflected through the “brain”.

Milkcrate Events are some of the country’s most environmentally-friendly, sustainable light artists and, for this event, created the sign Illuminate from thousands of 2L milk bottles with LED lighting and powered by people pedaling bicycles.

“Our first Illuminate attracted more than 9000 visitors and, next year, this event will be even more spectacular,” said Mr McMullin. “Regional tourism brings millions of dollars into the economy every year and, in turn, seeds and inspires new foodpreneurs, artists and service providers. As locals, we benefit from these creative outcomes and why would you live anywhere else?”

In other locations across the Murray and Riverina areas, record numbers of visitors were recorded.  Mark Francis from Murray Regional Tourism said tourism operators throughout that region recorded very high visitations and credited this with not only perfect weather conditions but the range of activities available.

“As well as the Murray riverside accommodation, the fact there were 100s of activities available for visitors to participate in and this is what we are now seeing in preferences for families.” Mr Francis said.

Edwards River Council economic development director John Harvie, Deniliquin, said anecdotally, visitors in that town over Easter were higher than ever before.

“There were more Victorian number plates than NSW over Easter and this continues to demonstrate the importance of our location and marketing to people south of the River Murray,” he said.

“The annual art show was a huge attraction this year as we combined two events into one with 32 stalls and demonstrations by the artisans.

“By re-badging this as Deni-Fest a larger number of people were attracted to it.

“Accommodation was at a premium and when the official figures are compiled I suspect this will be possibly the best Easter on record for visitations.”

Not even a year old, Coolamon Cheese experienced their busiest day ever, according to founder and general manager, Anton Green.

“We had all our staff on in readiness for a huge day on Easter Saturday and we were run off our feet. People dining in and buying products for picnics and taking home meant sales were fantastic and we are still recovering days later.”

“The feedback from visitors is very encouraging and they come to taste and buy produce from the Riverina,” he said.