The Vincent Street "beautification" rolls on with a date for completion now pushed out to the end of July or beginning of August. Works that were supposed to begin last winter didn't commence until October. Gloriously sunny and hot weather was the constant for five months. Now the days are shortening, the weather is changeable and the work appears to have lost momentum. With seemingly precious little effort on Fridays and no progress on the weekends, Beverley is now banking on fine weather between Mondays and Fridays for the contractors to be able to complete the project.
Hence, I have decided that Heavenly Beverley so resembles the Wild West that a temporary nickname could be Tombstone. Although the main drag is bitumenised with a layer of stones, dust continues to be a plague on the Gallery. Every week, I undertake a dust-a-thon to attempt to keep the surfaces and artworks clean. Then, this week, we have received our first decent shower of rain for the year, turning the ragged edges of the remaining brick paving and the neighbouring clay border into squelchy, slippery mud with puddles that don't drain away. A total vacuum of the Gallery was a waste of time; I removed the fine dust from our floors only to be replaced by blobby nodules of clay and stones.
Given the state of our main street, I can almost imagine Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday gliding purposely down Vincent Street, looking left and right for any sign of trouble whilst dodging the rolling tumbleweeds. Fortunately, the only ruckus I can hear are local kids playing and squealing in the skatepark. I did note the presence of four plain-clothed coppers today eating take-away from the Red Vault and enquired, with bated breath, their reason for being in Beverley. No catching bad guys for them. They were just here to keep an eye on the drag races out at Westdale.
Mostly, I try to ignore Vincent Street's current state and focus on the finish line. The road and surroundings will be wonderful. The dodgy brick paving is being torn up and wide concrete footpaths inlaid with stones are being laid and will be sealed. Deciduous trees are being planted to provide summer shade and winter sun. Hardy low shrubs and ground covers will add to the botanic softening. Seating and "wombat crossings" will encourage pedestrians and slow traffic. Two carparks are being bitumenised and a further carpark created behind the shire offices. The wine and tapas bar in the historic ANZ building will open during winter once the street works are finished. We are just having to cope with short-term inconvenience before we reach the goal.
Until this morning, the Gallery had not attracted many guests. Suddenly, on a dreary and overcast Sunday, visitors were coming to Heavenly Beverley for a drive to escape the Big Smoke. Shifting into top gear, I donned both my front-of-house and tourism hats and proceeded to extol the virtues of our lovely town. The sales flowed all day, much to our delight. And rather than detracting from their experiences, the Wild West appearance of Vincent Street brought out humour and tolerance in our guests, including a couple we'd met in Onslow and another couple with Mum who had come specifically to enjoy the Red Vault's Famous passionfruit sponge. Alas, there was no sponge, so three of them tucked into a Chicken Thief burger with gusto instead.
Enthused by their appreciation, I launched forward into some overdue pricing of Pat Thompson's quirky and colourful scarves, moved some hangings and a painting, hung Jo Nelson's wonderful bright red lino print on the Giftshop wall and worked out new positions for Lee Francis' photos of the Wheatbelt woodlands and farm gate. The Gallery and Giftshop are currently looking fantastic and I still have just enough room for Artist-in-Residence Shireen Manning to leave us a couple of art pieces if she so chooses.
Over the coming days and weeks, the Wheatbelt will turn green as crops begin to shoot. The East End Gallery is the proud recipient of two tonnes of firewood to keep us all cozy until the warmth of Spring returns.
Don't forget that our next Famous Sundowner on Saturday 4 June. You all know the drill. The theme is Winter. The sausage sizzle starts from 5.30 pm followed by LIVE music from 6.30pm. Please bring a plate and bottle to share and enjoy good food, great conversation, lively music and stunning art.
See you soon in the East End Gallery!
Christine Davis.
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