Author: Euni Drake

Event Report: Blue on Burringbar St + Blue Cube

The Blue on Burringbar St event, held on May 6th, 2023, was a vibrant celebration of music and community in Mullumbimby. The event aimed to honour the flood efforts in the area and bring people together. It took place on Burringbar Street between Dalley St and Stuart St from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

The event featured a lineup of three bands, including Port Wine Ambassadors, Warren Earl, and Loose Content, who entertained the crowd with their soulful melodies, Western Swing style, and high-energy indie rock sets, respectively. Joel Salom, the wandering compere, kept the crowd entertained with his comedic juggling routine.

Emergency services, including Mullum Fire and Rescue, Main Arm RFS, and the local police, were present, adding to the feeling of community and being honoured for their efforts during the flood. The Mayor, Michael Lyon, and the President of the Chamber of Commerce, Paul Prior, opened the event and acknowledged country.

The event setup began at 2:00 pm, with volunteers transforming Burringbar Street into a lively music venue. Straw bales created a picnic atmosphere, and local food outlets provided food and beverages. A mirror ball suspended over the centre of the street was a highlight of the lighting setup.

In addition to the music, the event featured Art Alleys, which provided creative activities for participants. Alley 1 offered face painting, drawing stations, live painting, and a life drawing session. Alley 2 hosted an eco-art sculpture station and a zine-making station. The Art Alleys were well-received, fostering a sense of community and allowing families to express their creativity.

The Blue Circle, a temporary “Community Art” project, invited participants to contribute by standing in blue paint and leaving their footprints on the road surface. This represented the collaborative rescue and recovery efforts during the floods.

Approximately 2,000 people attended the event, which received positive feedback from the community. Many expressed a desire to have similar events in the future and praised the use of the street for such celebrations.

Overall, the Blue on Burringbar St event successfully brought the community together, celebrated resilience, and provided a platform for creative expression.  

Dear Chamber members,

After six years of hard work by the community and Mullumbimby Chamber of Commerce members, Byron Shire Council passed Our Mullumbimby Masterplan on the 12th of December last year.  This is a good plan, it is a blueprint on which we can now add rich detail. 

This masterplan does not lock in the future of Mullumbimby, what it does is create a guide to enable us the community to pursue important projects with the active support and resources of council. 

Additionally we can raise funds, through grants or crowd funding for supported projects and know there is unlikely to be resistance from the community or council.What’s in the masterplan? 

For those who are keen to look, go to: https://www.byron.nsw.gov.au/Community/Place-planning/Our-Mullumbimby-Masterplan

I will in future newsletters and Chamber meetings outline some the important features, for now I will just mention five priority projects.

• Burringbar Talking Street (A long term project)
• Stuart Street Green Spine (A good project for 
• Formalising the ‘Alternate Routes’
• Placemaking Seed Projects
• Storytrail – The Mullumbimby Storytrail will connect many existing community projects as a continuous walking and cycling trail around the town, that is marked by new storytelling art and interpretative information to tell real and imagined stories of Mullumbimby’s past and future.

Creative Mullumbimby will be taking the lead on the Storytrail in the first half of the year, hoping to create a plan that we can seek funding from council in the second half of this year. 

There is nothing fixed yet about the trail, it is a guide upon which we can now build with confidence council will support our efforts.

There is a great opportunity for the chamber to take the lead on other of these priority projects. Please contact me if you have any questions.

Regards Malcolm

The Mullumbimby Shop Local competition is on again!

Mullumbimby Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with Echo Publications launches the Mullumbimby Shop Local Campaign.

Spend $20 or more in any of the participating business on this flyer
(click the poster to expand), and go into the weekly draw
to win one of 20 x $100 vouchers up for grabs!

The Echo Newspaper will be completing the draws
and will contact winners after the draw is completed

Don’t forget to complete the Shop local entry forms
in the participating shops when your out and about

Best of luck and thank you for shopping local!