Community & Business
21 May, 2021
Yungaburra initiative attracts strong support
AN exciting new Yungaburra initiative received overwhelming support from stall holders and customers as far afield as Dimbulah, Mareeba and Cairns on Saturday, May 8, as well as a large contingent of locals.
BY SALLY TURLEY
AN exciting new Yungaburra initiative received overwhelming support from stall holders and customers as far afield as Dimbulah, Mareeba and Cairns on Saturday, May 8, as well as a large contingent of locals.
‘Walk in Wardrobe,’ was a pre-loved clothing and accessory market, which aimed to sustainably transfer new treasures from stall holders’ wardrobes to customers, without adding any more burden to the environment.
Monies payed by the stall holders were donated to the local CWA to help fund their projects. It was an idea born amongst a group of friends – Binny Hendrick, Tamara Vallance, Larissa and Jenni Kruck and Meg Stansfield, and they have spent the last few months bringing it all together to achieve a great result.
“We have been friends since our kids started prep together, and now they are finishing school, so it seemed a good time to focus on helping our community,” Tamara Vallance said.
“We were aware that every 10 minutes, Australians dump 15 tonnes of clothing and fabric waste into landfill. That adds up to 800,000 tonnes, or 31 kilograms per person, every year.
“We wanted to create a function that gave people an opportunity to restock their wardrobes, make a bit of money and at the same time, re-purpose some of the clothing that might otherwise find its way into our already stressed waste facilities,” she said.
“Being so close to mother's day, we wanted people to bring their mums and have morning tea or lunch in Yungaburra.”
The success of the day had a lot of people asking if the Walk in Wardrobe would become and annual or even a twice a year event. The organisers had a number of criteria they aimed to satisfy if there was any chance of a repeat performance.
“We wanted a room full of committed stall holders, we wanted to fill the hall with customers and at the end of the event, we wanted to hear that our stall holders were happy with their vendor experience on the day,” Ms Vallance said.
With 25 stall holders happy to pay a small fee to participate and a flood of customers attending, it seemed the future of the event would now just come down to the stall holders’ experience on the day.
“We modelled it on the Cairns event ‘Your Wardrobe’, and the lady who organised it was very helpful, answering our questions."
"The Yungaburra Association Incorporated auspiced us under their insurance. Without their help, the event could not have happened, so we are very grateful," she said.
Events such as this are a wonderful example of what can be achieved by a small group of like-minded people who want to make a difference and who commit to organising a beneficial community event.
