IF anyone has questioned the worth of community over the past 12 months, Friday should have provided all the answers … and more.
Finally, we (the community) had something to celebrate as masks, stringent health safeguards and the shackles came off just in time for Easter.
The city centre again came alive with events and activities, while the riverfront proved a key drawcard with the region’s stunning autumn weather, offering an added incentive to venture outdoors.
And after 18 months in the wilderness, footy and netball returned to the playing arenas as fans, starved of their local sporting fix for far too long, were again able to cheer on their respective teams on the battlefield.
Long before local residents clocked off for the long weekend, visitors began arriving in their droves – seemingly much earlier than history would suggest.
Parking spaces in the CBD were at a premium early this week and supermarket shelves were bereft of the mandatory Easter eggs and toilet paper required by the influx of those camping by the river at this time of year.
But while many headed off to take in their slice of nature’s paradise, city attractions were abuzz with both locals and visitors getting their dose of vitamin D and all the excitement and amusements that are traditionally associated with the region and Easter (bar 2020).
All that goes to the strength and resilience that this community is renowned for.
It’s the “get your hands dirty” mentality that we see time and time again – without question, that makes these things happen.
Sure, it might have been easy just to throw in the towel and say “it’s too hard” or “we can’t”, but that’s not how we roll in Sunraysia.
When there’s a glimmer of hope, we grab it and make the best of any situation.
That again showed out yesterday, at the beginning of a weekend bursting at the seams with community events and competitions.
“Huge” was how one resident described the return of the Good Friday Show and Shine in the City Heart, albeit in the absence of the Mildura 100 Ski Race.
Organisers took a glass half-full attitude and it paid off tenfold.
Crowds also swelled to the return of football and netball at Sarah Oval for the much-anticipated return of competition after not a single goal was scored in 2020.
Hosts South Mildura Sporting Club took the challenge on the chin and turned on a magnificent spectacle of country footy and netball, while managing delicate COVID-19 health guidelines.
While credit is due to those event and competition organisers for going above and beyond in these unfamiliar times, what it also goes to show – and which has been argued over the past 12 months – is that we are unique and we are different to those living in metropolitan Melbourne.
No disrespect intended, but our worth of community and sense of freedom in the country – like Shepparton, or Bendigo, or Ballarat – is different and we should be treated as such.
Yesterday was not so much about winning or losing any more as it was for us to reunite as a community and to again celebrate being as one.
It was about bumping into your next door neighbour or an old school friend or trading jibes on the boundary line about how well (or poorly) your footy or netball team was doing.
It was also about our mental health and getting some respite from the social isolation that we have all experienced in varying degrees over the past year.
God forbid there should be a further COVID-19 outbreak in metropolitan Melbourne, but that being the case, we should be treated differently and not endure further lockdowns because of something happening 500km away.
This week’s example in Brisbane, when the city and neighbouring regions went into a successful hard three-day lockdown, not at the expense of regional areas, was a case in point.
It showed that it can be done without hurting areas not at the centre of the concern.
Long have we gone it alone in the face of adversity, just as those organisers and volunteers showed yesterday.
Their resilience, and that of our entire community, is well worth celebrating this Easter.
Enjoy!
