With only 17 Fridays left before Christmas, the holiday spirit is brewing in Berwick, following the $25,000 fund granted for the suburb’s Main Street to be decked from the halls to the rooftops with tinsel and more.
The City of Casey, during its 19 August meeting, agreed on a split budget of $50,000 between Berwick’s and Cranbourne’s Main Streets for a pilot program, one aimed at decoration, community, and the cheeriness of holiday spirit.
Casey’s mayor, Stefan Koomen, acknowledged Cr Scott Dowling’s passion for bringing the holiday spirit back to Berwick since before his election, but also highlighted the importance of the council’s decision to ultimately recognise the importance of the two former shires, and their centrality to Casey’s fringes.
“We want to recognise both, so we’ve got the [former] Berwick and Cranbourne Shires coming together to make Casey, and with the two main streets, we thought nothing better than bringing back some colour and some tinsel for Christmas,” he said.
“We all know how beautiful central Berwick is, and come Christmas time, we can make it something special, but we’ve decided to pay some respect to the history and split it amongst the two.”
Councillor for Akoonah Ward and a long-time Berwick local, Dowling said that it was good to see an even distribution and a good step forward for emphasis on community-centric events and occasions in the near future.
“Traders and shoppers alike can look forward ot an exciting, vibrant Christmas as the community reconnects with the spirit of the season,” he said.
“This is going to benefit everyone, and what I’d also like to see is people getting involved, lighting their houses up again like they used to.
“People used to go for drives around Berwick to have a look at the streets, but now it’s all dark, so staying local and being here would be nice.”
Koomen and Dowling took to Berwick’s Main Street on Monday morning, speaking to local traders about what they would like to see happen this Christmas season.
Linda, from Little Black Bag, said that speaking from a trader’s perspective, “Christmas is the biggest trade time of the year”.
“We just want people back in Berwick, basically, to increase the traffic flow, and to bring back that atmosphere that we used to have.
“Everyone would grab a cuppa, have a bit of a shop, it was all about that, and of course Christmas makes you happy, especially for the kids,” she said.
Speaking on the $25,000 fund and the pilot program, she said that Berwick “needed it”, and that “festivity and the community awareness around it”, remains an integral piece in the overall growth and sustenance of Berwick as a town.
Across the road at the Departure Lounge, both Tracey and Lauren were all for the pilot program, both eager to see the street covered in decor and people.
Lauren said that having the council’s backing of the initiative, as well as a dedicated budget for it, is “good for the community”.
“It’s also good for all ages, all the families, and we’ve missed the last few years of Berwick looking pretty and lit up,” she said.
Tracey, who is a Bunyip local, said that her hometown has a lovely and established Christmas feeling, and that seeing something similar, and something unique to Berwick, would be more than a welcome addition to the town.
Reflecting on the possible impact that a Christmas-themed event could have, she said that it could expand to fostering that spirit, not just in Main Street, but throughout the whole suburb as well.
“You could do something where every trader has a Christmas postcard, and then you go around Main Street to get them stamped, and whoever has the most would get a prize,” she said.
“Then, hopefully, as it grows, it can send the message that maybe you don’t really need to go anywhere else to do your shopping, and that you can get everything you need here.”
Growth and prosperity through community is what Cr Dowling is hoping to achieve through these endeavours, with the Christmas lights a small but essential step in the big journey.
