A project to decorate Vincent Street for the festive season is a step closer after a meeting of key sponsors this week.
Daylesford Men’s Shed has partnered with Daylesford Rotary, Daylesford District Community Bank and Hepburn Shire Council to make and install street decorations to enliven Vincent Street for the month of December.
Local school and community groups have hand-painted 23 trees which will be decorated with over 1000 hand painted wombats. The 2.4 metre trees will be illuminated by sparkling, solar powered LED lights in the evenings. The Men’s Shed and Council will work with Vincent Street business owners to place the trees so that they do not interfere with pedestrian traffic or trade.
The wombat theme recognises the former name for Daylesford township and it’s location in Wombat Forest.
At a dinner at the Men’s Shed this week, project leader, Mark Rak, announced that all of the trees had been painted and returned to the Shed for assembly. The dinner was attended by representatives of Council including CEO Bradley Thomas and Cr Lesley Hewitt, representatives of Rotary and of the Community Bank.
“We wanted to bring our supporters together to inform them of progress and give them a chance to see some of the completed trees,” said Mr Rak. “We also wanted to make sure that all of the groups involved were on the same page and knew where we were going with the project.”
Hepburn Shire CEO, Bradley Thomas, said it was wonderful to see many schools and community groups collaborating on the project. “By working together, these groups have achieved something none of them could have achieved on their own,” he said.
At the end of the festive season, the wombats will be returned to the artists as a keepsake. The trees will be retained and refurbished with new hand painted decorations next year.
The Daylesford Men’s Shed has provided the design, engineering and manufacturing skills and labour for the project. Funding has been provided by the partner organisations.
The trees are expected to be in place by the beginning of December. Sample trees will be in the Community Bank and the Library from next week.