Last week many usually quiet streets around Parkes were transformed into a spooky labyrinth of cobwebs and pumpkins, and were overrun by diminutive witches, pint-sized skeletons and creepy clowns as locals made their own Halloween fun. Halloween has been a popular celebration in the northern hemisphere for hundreds of years, but the freakish festival is slowly catching on down under.

In Parkes, this year’s Halloween celebrations were shared between small pockets of communities, where participating households decorated their homes with spookythemed props, or placed an orange balloon on their mailbox, and then waited for the trick-or-treaters (and guardians) to come knocking. By evening the streets were swarming with gangs of happy little terrors, eagerly clutching their loot as they skipped to their next target.

There were plenty of treats, but one or two tricks as well. The usually charming Andrew Cusack transformed himself into a ghastly ghoul and jumped out at any unsuspecting trick-or-treaters who ventured too close. Some neighbourhoods opted to stage their “trick or treating” on Saturday night, while others were overrun with ghoulish fun last Monday, as Halloween is observed on the 31st of October.

Joanne, Owen, and Hannah Strom were eagerly awaiting trick-or-treaters on Saturday. They’d begun decorating for Halloween two days earlier, and had transformed their idyllic acreage into a spooky spectacle to delight the little demons who came knocking. Trick-or-treaters had to brave the long driveway which they’d lined with cobwebs, and ghosts. Prop-skeletons, gravestones, and hand-carved jacko’lanterns, completed the look. While Joanne’s love
of Halloween was imported from her native Canada, she said the neighbourhood had been trick-or-treating together for at least ten years.

If the hordes of trick-or-treaters were anything to go by, it seems that there are a lot of little locals who have also been bitten by the Halloween bug.

Parkes residents have a rare opportunity to listen to two internationally renowned speakers next Saturday at the Celebrating Neurodiversity event. Chris Ulmer from Florida, USA is a special education teacher who founded Special
Books by Special Kids (SBSK) wanting to share the unique talents and incredible personalities of the students in his special education classroom with others.

The second speaker is Tim Sharp, an internationally acclaimed 28-year-old artist from Brisbane, most famously known for his creation of a superhero called Laser Beak Man. Tim has autism and at age eleven he invented Laser Beak Man. Tim is the first person in the world with autism to have his art turned into an animated television series screening on the ABC and internationally through the Cartoon Network. There is an exhibition about Tim in the National Museum of Australia. His story has been on Australian Story. The event is at the Parkes Leagues Club from 2 to 6pm. Tickets can be booked at www.parkesleaguesclub.com and are $65 which includes a delicious afternoon tea.

All profits from the event will go towards supporting the projects that the Central West Autism and Special Needs Awareness Group are working on achieving to benefit the children with autism and other special needs in our community.

After such a dreadful storm last Friday evening, the St George Flower Show and Market offered a burst of colour to lift everyone’s spirits. Behind every event organised in Parkes is a great group of people who make it all happen. The cheerful volunteers at St George were no exception, working hard to ensure the flower show was a blooming success.

While the storm might have shaken a few branches, the unusually wet winter and spring certainly benefited the blooms. The Irises climbed to heights unseen for many years, and roses were the best they have been. Southern Cross displayed a beautiful range of roses, and the Red Bend Catholic College picked the finest from their college
garden. The winner of the Peoples Choice for the single bloom was Lucinda Auld. Her grandmother Margaret McMillan proudly accepted it on her behalf.

Mavis Moon was delighted to receive first prize for her collection of flowers with a bouquet of Double Delight Roses.
Alliance Pharmacy kindly donated the prizes, and the winners were thrilled by the lovely assortment of goodies. Discount Dave’s sponsored the lucky door prizes, which added to the fun on the day. Attendees were treated to a delicious tea provided by the Anglican Ladies. Vivian, Heather and Mavis were run off their feet as the demand for cakes and lamingtons was great.

The market stalls offered something for everyone, with a range of crafts and gift packages on offer and the Trash and
Treasure gave shoppers a chance to find an unexpected gem. Lorraine Chambers and her helpers had a plant stall that went on and on all day.

By Norma Garment

More than 400 people braved an icy cold wind on Saturday to create a festival atmosphere at the Northparkes Oval for the Parkes & Districts Relay For Life event. At the opening of the relay in the afternoon, organiser Renee Rice said the overnight section might be called off because of the strong wind.

Relay For Life is an overnight, team fundraising event that brings local communities together in the fight against cancer and to honour cancer survivors and their carers. After the opening ceremony cancer survivors and their carers did the first lap of the day after which it was open to the rest of participants to start doing laps. The Hope Ceremony with candles was held at 7:30pm after which the event was unfortunately called off and everyone packed up to go home.

A spokesperson of the Cancer Council NSW said this week they were possibly looking at re-holding the event in March next year. The relay is normally held every two years in Parkes. Despite the disappointment of the cancellation, the event still managed to create community spirit and support for everyone affected by cancer.

Andrew Cusack, who delivered the survivor speech, said the true heroes in our community were the cancer survivors and not sports champions. “We have to fight cancer every single day. Sports heroes do not have to do that.” He called cancer survivors warriors. “A warrior is someone with great vigour, courage and determination and so many people
with cancer fit this description perfectly.” He said there were many warriors in our community, “and I want everyone to remember that”.

All registered voters in the Orange State District, which includes the Parkes Shire, will have to go to the polls for the third time this year in the NSW State by-election on Saturday, 12th November to vote for a member of the Legislative Assembly. The seat of Orange became vacant when National MP Andrew Gee won the federal seat of Calare in the July election.

A field of seven candidates is contesting the elections with Forbes resident Dianne Decker the only candidate from outside Orange. The other candidates are Scott Barrett for the Nationals, Philip Donate for the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, Janelle Bicknell for the Greens, Scott Munro an Independent, Bernard Fitzsimon for Labor and Kevin Duffy Independent. Dianne is standing for the Christian Democratic Party.

Dianne, who served as a Forbes Councillor for 16 years, said the biggest issues she would be focusing on were council amalgamations, flood proofing the Newell Highway to Parkes and West Wyalong and health. The Parkes Shire Council has endorsed a priority list, based on community consultation and strategically important issues, to
canvass with the candidates.

“These issues are important to our community and we strongly support calls to all parties to take local council and community issues seriously, and commit to improving our sector,” said Mayor Ken Keith. Council has identified the following priorities for the Parkes Shire:

Parkes heavy vehicle bypass, Parkes southern ring road, NSW Fire Brigade Station, freight rail and Parkes National Logistics HUB, increased short-term funding for Roads, Parkes Rural Fire Station – new shed, telecommunications upgrade, Parkes CBD Vibrancy Project, decentralization, Agriculture Value Adding – Parkes Demonstration
Project, Bells Line Expressway, Parkes Regional Airport Business Park, education standards and resources for regions.

Around 350 Parkes locals took advantage of Sunday’s picture perfect weather to get out into the garden, and quite a few even got into other people’s gardens- with a ticketed wrist-band of course. The Parkes Open Gardens were a splendid way to spend a sunny Sunday, with several of the town’s most beautiful and most interesting gardens opening their gates to the general public.

For some visitors it was an opportunity to indulge their curiosity, for others it was an exercise in inspiration-seeking, and plenty of visitors simply went along to enjoy the spoils of their neighbours’ hard work. But it wasn’t just the blooms drawing a crowd. Devonshire teas kept the volunteers busy as visitors took the opportunity to enjoy the
sumptuous refreshments amidst the tranquil setting of Trelawney, a 1920’s homestead 12km out of town, that has been in the same family for generations. A craft and millinery stall had some fascinating items for sale.

Of course Elsie Mahon’s town cottage attracted a crowd, with many coming to admire her landscaping, and leaving with a hand-made sculpture, mosaic, or pottery work of art. The iris bulbs were a popular seller. Another favourite was the Blackstock’s labyrinthine garden that is as much a work of art as the many sculptures hidden within it. The succulent gardens proved to be a popular favourite among the visitors, but the creations made from recycled metals
were truly something to behold.

It was a splendidly successful day, despite most of the gardens being subject to significant hail damage in Friday’s storm. The Open Gardens was organised by the Parkes Quota ladies as a fundraising venture and they are hoping to have raised around $5,000 for charity. The lucky winner of Elsie McMahon’s Bird Bath raffle was George Ward from Alectown.

The Railway Hotel’s Hart Bar will be hosting a Melbourne Cup luncheon on Tuesday. For $42 you will get a two-course meal, glass of sparkling on arrival, sweeps and lucky door prizes. The live coverage from Flemington
and Sky 1 will be on the big screens so not a minute of the action will be missed! This package is available in the Railway Restaurant too. Limited spaces are available and bookings are essential.

Serious punter? You will almost feel trackside with the massive screens and latest technology in the NEW TAB. Food will be available from 12 to 3pm and there will be sweeps and a lucky loser’s draw! No bookings necessary for seats in the front bar or TAB.

Ellie and Bernie Hetherington’s property was a battle-zone after Friday’s storm. The Hetheringtons operate a community garden and nursery from their property to raise funds for CanAssist. The storm tore through their property last Friday, upending some trees and ripping others in half. During the brief tornado-like storm tree-trunks, branches and debris hurled around their place. “We’ve lived here for 48 years, and have never seen a storm like it,” Ellie said. “It was really quite frightening.”

A tree fell against their house, many of their shadehouses were destroyed or torn apart, the chook pen was knocked
on its side, and their terrified ponies were trapped in their stables by fallen timbers. The poor creatures were so traumatised they couldn’t be coaxed back in. The huge hailstones left dints in their house siding, and even punched sizeable holes in the laserlite roofing. Remarkably a fallen tree narrowly missed their new glass-house, but still damaged fences.

With branches, wood, and debris everywhere, it was impossible to walk through their yards. This was a problem as they were meant to be one of the gardens open to the public on Sunday. But instead of visitors, they were swamped
by helpers. Neighbours Bec and Dooley Thomson came by to offer a helping hand.

After a quick inspection they realised it was a huge job, and put out a call for help on Facebook. Shortly after about 20 people rolled up their sleeves and helped Ellie and Bernie restore their treasured garden. Dooley carted loads away in his tip truck, and another neighbour turned up with a bobcat and started clearing the back paddocks. “I can’t get over the generosity of people,” Ellie said, “They were all young people, too. It would have taken us two or three months to do what they did in one day.”

By Raen Fraser

Parkes will get into the Christmas spirit on Friday, 2nd December when the Christmas Parade returns to the town’s streets after an absence of three years. “Back by popular demand,” said Peter Guppy of the Action Club, the organisers of the event. The Parade will start at 6pm and will be followed by the Parkes Upmarkets and Christmas Movie Night in Cooke Park. The Parkes Lights Up event when the Christmas light show will be turned on, will take place on the same day.

The Action Club invites all school children to dress up in their Christmas clothes, as well as businesses to dress and enter a float into the parade. The floats must be decorated in a Christmas theme. Entries must be received no
later than Friday, 25th November. “Let us get together to make this parade one to remember and an occasion our Parkes families will look forward to in years to come,” said Peter.

The parade will start from Cecil Street onto Short Street, up Clarinda Street and down Welcome Street. Peter said the idea was not to close Clarinda Street so as to allow businesses to carry on as usual. Address all Parade enquiries to parkesactionclub@gmail.com or 0448 166 016, and all Upmarkets enquiries to parkesupmarkets@hotmail.com.au or chamber@parkeschamber.com.au