By Tania Phillips
Just under 700 people passed through the gates for the first Stanthorpe Eco Expo at the Stanthorpe Railway Station on Saturday with organisers now hoping to make an annual event.
“It was an absolutely brilliant day,” event co-ordinator Sarah Hamilyn-Harris said.
“We have had nothing but positive feedback from the exhibitors, the speakers. We had nearly 700 people come through the gate which was totally incredible.
“All four speakers were very interesting, thought-provoking, talking about new ideas, new ways to manage the land and how to live in a more environmentally caring way.
“I would like to see this become an annual event because there is clearly a lot of interest – though some of the people were from away and here because of the long-weekend, there were a lot of local people there.
“So there is a great deal of interest from the local community in living a more sustainable life, taking care of this planet which was very encouraging to see.”
She said that a lot of people had probably been drawn to the event due to the Granite Belt’s recent droughts and fires.
“Well Stanthorpe’s been directly affected by climate change – the rise in temperature, the number of dates when it doesn’t rain, the drop in annual rainfall, tremendous fires,” she said.
“I don’t think our creek has run for two years – the creek through town. We get a bit of a flush after rainfall but the creek itself hasn’t run for ages.”
The event featured four guest speakers including keynote speaker Jerry Coleby-Williams from Gardening Australia as well as displays and exhibits from through out the Southern Downs and Granite Belt.
