The Parkes Antique Motor Club (PAMC) and Central West Car Club (CWCC) have combined forces for the second year for a fantastic extravaganza with a record number of entries.

The public and car enthusiasts can delight in a display of classic, vintage and veteran motoring history cars, and get the opportunity to view and purchase from both novice and professional traders from far and wide.

The CWCC annual Show and Shine’s 13th year has grown rapidly to include the Sundowners Club, Club Commodore,
Monaro Owners Club, Monaro Local Club and Orana Elite Ford Club, as well as other clubs from far and wide with a record 191 vehicles, plus motor cycles and vintage machinery that was also on display last year.

There will be different entry gates for the Show and Shine (gold coin donation) and the Parkes Swap Meet ($5 entry) celebrating its 24th year. Entrance to the venue at Pioneer Oval will be from the eastern end of Victoria Street.

All proceeds from the car show will go to CanAssist. The Swap Meet attracts professional traders from all eastern
Australian states who usually set up stalls on Friday for an early 6am start on Saturday. All proceeds are administered by PAMC, a not-for-profit organisation, to resource the Parkes Motor Museum, which has a wonderful display of quality vintage and veteran vehicles.

The Parkes Motor Museum moved from its original 1972 location in an old disused service station on the corner of Dalton and Bogan Streets to the Henry Parkes Centre at the northern end of the Newell Highway. The centre incorporates the Parkes Visitor Information Centre, the King’s Castle Elvis Exhibition and Motor Museum, and Henry Parkes Museum and Antique Machinery Collection.

Peak Hill is the latest stop in the public art trail of the Parkes Shire with a series of artworks by a local resident unveiled at the new Community Wall this week. The six panels featuring constellations of Wiradjuri stories in the night sky by Scott “Sauce” Towney include beautiful drawings of The Mighty Yarran Tree, The Eagle’s Nest, Cockatoos, The Seven Sisters, The Celestial Emu and The Great Creator.

“I am very humbled to be acknowledged by the people I grew up with. It is the pinnacle of my career,” said Sauce, who has been a finalist in the NSW Premier’s Indigenous Art Awards and has completed many commissions. He mentioned that his depiction of the Celestial Emu would be featured on a commemorative $5 coin next year.

Sauce specialises in drawing and pyrography and experiments with a variety of materials for his contemporary style of indigenous art. Chair of the Parkes Shire Cultural Advisory Committee, Councillor Barbara Newton said: “The development of public art in Peak Hill expands and complements the public art trail created in Parkes last year and is a great way of people meeting and greeting, while engaging the interest of visitors and adding to the colour and feel of the main street”.

The public art space, a concept designed by Parkes artist Jac Clark, will be expanded to each village in the shire to enhance the public art trail and the vibrancy of each community.

By Maggi Barnard

Black leather at the height of summer would normally not be recommended, except when it is January and you are in Parkes for the 2018 Elvis Festival! Celebrating 50 years since the ’68 Comeback Special, the Parkes Elvis Festival promises to be even bigger and better with black leather, white suits and lots of pomade set to take centre stage from 10th to 14th January.

To add more glamour to the festival that has put Parkes on the international map, will be Australian rock legends Phil and Tommy Emmanuel, who went to school in Parkes. “We still have wonderful friends here, Parkes is a very important part of our lives,” said Tommy at the launch of the festival at Hotel Gracelands on Monday.

The two brothers, who have more than 50 albums to their name and plenty of other accolades, will be inducted to the Wall of Fame on 10th January – a very fitting honour as Tommy said he believed Elvis’ Jailhouse Rock was one of the greatest recordings ever.

The 2018 festival promises to be a fitting 50th celebration according to Festival Director Cathy Treasure with lots of new and exciting additions to the five-day program including a midnight show, dancing in the Coles car park, performances in the Little Theatre and more 5pm shows. A second train, the Blue Suede Express will arrive shortly after the Elvis Express, while a special Priscilla Plane will also be in operation for the first time.

By Maggi Barnard

From early next year Parkes will not only boast a Premier, but also a King! A statue of Elvis will go on permanent display in Cooke Park to ensure his legacy will forever live on in Parkes. Council has partnered with the Elvis Revival Inc (ERI) committee to commission a statue.

To tie in with the theme of existing public art, Terrance Plowright has been commissioned to construct the new statue – the same artist who sculpted Henry Parkes. Parkes Shire Mayor Ken Keith said: “The statue will be a fitting dedication to our hard-working Elvis Festival volunteer committee, and serve as a lasting legacy and recognition of their work to make the Parkes Elvis Festival what it is today.”

This project has been a long time in planning, with the ERI and Council working together for a number of years to bring Elvis to life. The President of ERI Nola Short said: “We are excited to see this project come to fruition as a thank you to our community for its support of the festival over the last 25 years.”

“We hope the statue will itself become a tourist attraction for Parkes, drawing visitors into the Cooke Park precinct not just during the Elvis Festival, but all year round.” Terrance has begun sculpting the statue in bronze, with the Elvis Revival Inc planning to hold the official unveiling during the 2018 Parkes Elvis Festival.

Hundreds of people flocked to the 2017 Parkes Show this week to continue making it a true community event for the 137th year! “Well done Parkes!” said Member for Riverina and Minister for Small Business, Michael McCormack at the official opening on Tuesday. “To reach 137 is truly amazing! A show like this brings out the best in people.”

For Maisie Morrow, 2017 The Land NSW Showgirl and judge in the Showgirl competition, “shows let communities shine, and Parkes is a wonderful example”. She was very impressed and delighted by the encouragement young people received to be part of the show.

Show President Gary O’Brien attributed the show’s continued success to its “passionate committee and volunteers who work together to ensure all the elements come together seamlessly”.

The warmth of friendship and books can turn a freezing day into a memorable one. This is what about 500 pre-school and primary school children experienced last Friday at the annual reading day with the theme Paint Parkes REad with Friends.

“It was a fantastic day with a very good turnout,” said co-ordinator Pietta Bridge of Neighbourhood Central. “We had nine schools attending that includes all the primary and pre-schools in Parkes.” The Reading Bug invited his friends and was joined by Ruby Roo from Penrith and Billy Booksie from the Blue Mountains. Billy jumped out of the big parcel he arrived in much to the delight and surprise of the children.

The release of pigeons with nine of them carrying messages written by the Reading Bug for each of the participating schools, was another highlight and a first for the event. “This is how messages were sent before the arrival of mobile phones,” said one of the organisers.

The main message of Paint the Town REad, which was developed in Parkes in the 1990s and has since spread to more than 50 locations across Australia, is the importance of reading, singing and talking to your baby from birth.
“This day is always so exciting,” said Sherree Rosser, committee member and one of the original instigators of the event. “The message is getting through, as we now get high school students who remember the reading days and take time to read to their nieces and nephews.”

By Maggi Barnard

It should no longer be a rocky road for Parke Shire Council’s maintenance teams with the state-of-the-art roadworks mainstay, a CAT RM500B Road Reclaimer, arriving in Parkes last week.

The new road mixer is the first of this series to be sold in Australia. The big selling point of the $673,900 mixer is that it reclaims materials when fixing existing roads cutting out the need for any new material. The new mixer will
significantly improve Council’s operations by reducing costs, providing a superior, stronger and durable road base, and allowing rehabilitation of works to be undertaken in a more expedient and environmentally friendly manner.

According to Parkes Shire Council’s Director Works and Services, Ben Howard, gravel supply and carriage is a major cost of road maintenance, while roads are the largest budget expenditure item each year with in excess of 2,000km of sealed and gravel roads across the region managed and maintained by Council.

“Roads are significant to the community as we use them every day,” said Ben. “It is very exciting, as we will not only avoid using contractors, but in time will be able to rent the mixer to other councils.”

Bassem Ibrahim of CAT in Melbourne said Indonesia had purchased 14 of the mixers since its launch in 2015 and there had been no problems so far. Six Council employees will be trained by specialist CAT staff from the US to operate the new mixer and carry out critical functions.

The Parkes Shire Council’s communication efforts to keep the community in the loop was rewarded in Sydney last week. The council won the RH Dougherty Award for Excellence in Communication (Division A) at the 2017 Local Government Awards for the development of its corporate website and social media channels.

Parkes Shire Mayor, Cr Ken Keith OAM said: “We are delighted to have received this award. We completely transformed our communications methods and platforms, including rebuilding our corporate website and social media channels.”

In 2016, a survey found Council’s corporate website and social media presence were in need of significant improvement. “This project was a whole community effort, with feedback from residents and stakeholders forming the foundations of the design and function of the new website to make it more accessible, engaging and easily understandable,” said Council’s Brand and Marketing Manager, Katrina Dwyer.

“Since we launched the new website and social media platforms in December 2016, we have recorded a significant increase in community engagement with communications regarding Council works, services, initiatives and events.

“Most notably, earlier this year Council’s Facebook page received 186 new followers in 24 hours and reached over 15,000 people with one post regarding the flash flooding event in March. This shows that our residents are moving online to receive road closure updates and emergency information.”

The RH Dougherty awards are held annually during Local Government Week, and are judged by leading experts in the communications field.