WARRAGUL // SIX local businesses are getting together to run the first in a series of fundraisers for local community projects.
Above: Most of the traders involved in Collective Good project. Photo: William PJ Kulich. PRN:01056
The Press Cellars, Big Spoon Little Spoon, Stella’s Pantry, Lean & Green, String + Salt and Warragul Flower Shoppe have created Collective Good, a group of small businesses which want to give back to the community.
ADVERTISEMENT
On 29 October the group will hold a cocktail party to raise funds for James Geurts’ major art project “The Presence of Giants.”
James’ project will see the recessed footprint of a mountain ash tree, inspired by the giants that once towered over the region, planted in Warragul’s Civic Park. The project, which includes lighting and 3D scanning real trees, is big and expensive – $84,000 has already been contributed by the state government and significant donations have been made by other groups and fundraisers.
A gap of $15,000 remains and the Collective Good fundraiser will help cover that.
“This is our first event but we hope to come together regularly to do something good for our town and the people who live here,” String + Salt owner Michelle Cann said in a media release.
ADVERTISEMENT
“All food, drinks, labour and event costs will be donated; so every_single cent we raise will go towards our chosen cause.
“We really want to help James get this project over the line, it’s almost there and we can’t wait to see work begin.
Just 50 tickets are being sold for the event at a cost of $100 each. They can be purchased at the String + Salt store, by calling 5622 2119, or online at goo.gl/hsvZik.
In July James told the Warragul & Baw Baw Citizen the art installation “will be like a fossil excavation.”
“It will feel like it has just disappeared. It’s about the body of the tree, not the height.”
James said it was the story of the tree cut down in Thorpdale to measure its height – 114.3 metres – which inspired the work.
