Business owners with Lord Mayor Tania Brown and Wollongong MP Paul Scully launching Keira Laneway Live. Photo: Keeli Dyson.
A laneway on the fringe of Wollongong CBD will be enlivened with a one-day street event set to “bring back fun” and boost businesses, with hopes that it will open opportunities for more activations around the city in the future.
Keira Lane will get a whole new look this week, with the quiet stretch set to be brought to life as it becomes the latest pocket in the Illawarra to host a family-friendly activation highlighting the sites, sounds and tastes of the community.
“I am excited because it is another opportunity to activate one of our much loved precincts here in Keira Lane and we’re going to have lots of entertainment, food offerings, roving performers,” Wollongong Lord Mayor Tania Brown said.
“I think the community will just come out and enjoy it as another little sample of life living in Wollongong.”
With DJs, bands, games, circus activities and much more, the event hopes to attract crowds of all ages and use the exposure to help locals rediscover the incredible restaurants and venues right on their doorstep.
“This gives us an opportunity to spotlight this area and bring people to it,” Cr Brown said.
“We do a lot in lower east Crown Street, obviously the mall has a life of its own, so bringing the people up here, getting them to understand what businesses are around and bring repeat business for them.”
Amigos owner Owen Langston is excited about the plans.
“You do feel like the forgotten child a little bit up this end of town because nothing ever really happens up here, so I’m excited,” he said.
“I feel like the dining precinct in Wollongong is quite disjointed, we don’t really have a designated dining precinct, it’s sort of like there’s little pockets here there and everywhere.
“There’s still not a lot of movement around the CBD by people just walking to and from different places so I think events like this will certainly help highlight, make people remember that we are up here.”
Amigos owner Owen Langton hopes the event will promote foot traffic to the area. Photo: Keeli Dyson.
By showing the diversity of offerings around Keira Lane, the event could help promote more foot traffic and prompt customers to step inside venues they’ve only previously driven by.
“Amigos is a bit like Narnia. When you come in the front door you think it’s just a tiny restaurant [but it] just keeps going,” Owen said.
“For us personally, we still feel like we’re a destination restaurant.
“So I think trying to create events where we’re making use of areas that previously wouldn’t been even thought about will hopefully make people start moving around the city a bit more.”
Keira Laneway Live follows similar successful activations in Port Kembla and Thirroul and is part of a Permit/Plug/Play pilot program designed to find way to improve processes, infrastructure and accessibility to streamline events like this.
And through a NSW Gvernment grant which has enabled two new power boxes in Keira Lane, another at Thirroul and upgrades in Port Kembla and Crown Street, powering up amps, speakers, event lighting and other installations is now made even simpler.
“The government has an agenda to bring back fun to our cities,” Planning Minister and Wollongong MP Paul Scully said.
“In addition to making sure we deliver more homes, good jobs … good communities involve having a bit of fun.
“It provides another opportunity even on a temporary basis to expand the capacity of a restaurant or a hospitality venue.
“That’s not only good for the business, it’s good for jobs and it’s good for community. It allows people to get out and meet people in a different circumstance that they might not have ordinarily done.”
With programs like this, as well as planning reforms and a refreshed focus on the night-time economy, Mr Scully hoped the space could see many more activations pop up in the future.
“I’m hoping that over time, working with the business owners, working with some of our local bands, musicians or creative types, whatever that may be … that we can work on a regular program that spreads people around the city, allows people to experience the city and new areas in a different way but also helps to stimulate small business and support jobs,” he said.
Keira Laneway Live will be on Sunday 22 March from noon to 9 pm. For more information visit Wollongong City Council’s website.
