MORWELL’S central business district will become a hub of creative excellence and sustainable ideas tomorrow night for a spring market and festival as part of the ReActivate: Latrobe Valley initiative.
Building on the success of the July winter market, which featured 20 stalls showcasing the Valley’s creative community talent, the spring market will take the revitalisation initiative to a new level with stalls profiling local sustainable practices including community gardens and solar power innovation.
“It is about profiling what happens in the area and remembering we’ve got great things to offer and there’s a whole range of fantastic things going on,” event organiser and Associate Professor of RMIT’s Office of Urban Transformation Rosalea Monacella said.
More than 50 stalls, including food, craft and community groups, will line Commercial Road and Tarwin Street.
Yoga classes will be held in the open and musicians including Julianne Bremner, Steve Schultz’s drumming circle, folk and Celtic band The Nigellas and Spanish gypsy-style band Karavana Flamenco will entertain.
The market will mark the launch of phase two of the RMIT University project which aims to transform and reactivate the Valley for a low carbon future.
After tomorrow’s market, the Office of Urban Transformation will begin the process of handing over control of the markets to the community, with the aim of running three annually.
Professor Monacella said as part of phase two of the initiative, 20 vacant shops and 10 vacant lots and disused infrastructure had been identified for revitalisation,” Professor Monacella.
“The market becomes the launching pad for people who are making things or developing things at home so they can transition into shops and sheds.
“Latrobe Valley has some really amazing, beautiful sites and it’s just a matter of how we connect them with what we already have and make them landmarks, rather than eyesores.
“If change is going to happen, it’s going to come from the community and somehow we need to get that energy going and that motivation.”
In support of the market, many Morwell traders will stay open late tomorrow night.
The market will run from 4pm to 9pm tomorrow in Commercial Road and Tarwin Street, Morwell.
