By Mikayla van Loon
For four years now, the Kilsyth Community Action Group (KCAG) has been brightening up what has become the heart of the town with Christmas decorations.
KCAG chairman Mike O’Meara said it’s just a small gesture of community spirit to help bring some joy to the Coles shopping precinct during the festive season.
“We started off with putting bunting up and we combined that with some school art displays. So we got the local schools to do Christmas themed artworks and we spoke to all the traders and put it in the shop windows,” he said.
“Because this year with Covid school was on again off again until very late so we had to give that a miss this year but I’ve been wanting to do, for a long time, these hanging baskets.”
Battling the wind, rain and stormy weather on Thursday 2 December, Mr O’Meara, with the help of some Kilsyth Football Club players hung the decorations in the shopping precinct.
“The guys volunteered their time. So they are in the trades and we just needed somebody. The football people have been involved since its inception but this is the first time we’ve had the younger players involved.”
Mr O’Meara said it has become a community effort to ensure the decorations are installed each year, with various people always lending a hand.
This is just one part in KCAG’s advocacy for improving the shopping precinct’s appearance and hopefully it starts a conversation with local shoppers and retailers about who does it each year.
“We do what we can and people do notice it, shoppers comment on it,” Mr O’Meara said.
“We want to make this a thing so people go ‘oh I see the decorations are up again’ or if we missed a year they say ‘why aren’t the decorations up’. I want it to be a bit of a thing so people start to notice that it’s part of what we do.”
KCAG has been in operation as an organised group since 2014 and Mr O’Meara said that is relatively young in terms of other organisations of the same kind.
Kilsyth however is always changing being on the urban fringe of the Shire but one thing has always stayed the same and that is needing a sense of identity.
“There’s over 10,000 people in the area but the demographics are always changing. So there’s lots to do and we’re up for it. I think it’s just reaching different audiences and reaching a younger audience,” Mr O’Meara said.
“We did a lot of consultation when we were getting our act together and it was all about identity. People love living here without question but there’s always improvements they’d like to see.
“They want ownership. We call this one of the hearts. This area was identified as the centre of Kilsyth but there’s nothing to say that.”
While KCAG received funding from Yarra Ranges Council this year to build on the Christmas decorations, Mr O’Meara said he and the rest of the group will continue working with the Council to gradually improve year on year.
“The baskets are an enhancement and I think they just add something to it. Eventually we’d like a big Christmas tree in the middle of the car park. So yes, we do have plans.”
