Our town centres are places where we are entertained, shop, dine and catch up with friends and family.
Vibrant Spaces is all about businesses using the footpath, free of charge, in return for some innovative thinking and a common sense approach to adding colour, products, comfortable seating and lively entertainment onto our streets.
Use your imagination to provide experiences and spaces that will draw people into our main streets and encourage them to stay!
The aim is to encourage people to stop, linger, shop and dine, which not only benefits local businesses, but makes for a more pleasant shopping experience.
Want to host a Street Gig?
Music is a fantastic way to bring your streets to life and provide instant vibrancy!
Thanks to funding from the NSW Government’s Festival of Place initiative, in March and April 2021 we held free pop-up live performances featuring some of the MidCoast’s best local performers.
The streets of Harrington, Nabiac, Tea Garden, Hawks Nest, Stroud and Wingham came alive as people took a break from cleaning up after the floods and storms and enjoyed an amazing experience on main streets across the MidCoast. On the June long weekend in 2021, there were more pop-up performances - this time in Forster, Taree, Tuncurry and Gloucester.
If you’re a business, or group of businesses, that wants to host a live gig on your main street, get in touch with us, email [email protected].
Streetscape banners, seating upgrades and more
While vibrant spaces and place-making is driven by the creativity of unique businesses and communities across the MidCoast region, we're working to support you as you put your own stamp on your streets.
We're rolling out a street banner program that both unifies and distinguishes the areas within the MidCoast region. Three sets of brightly coloured banners are being launched:
Mountains and Hinterland - Gloucester and Barrington
Rivers and Valleys - Taree and Wingham
Beaches and Lakes - Forster, Harrington, Old Bar, Hawks Nest and Tea Gardens.
With a similar look and feel across the MidCoast region, they're designed to soften the streetscape and create a vibrant and active space welcoming to both residents and visitors.
Gloucester's banners are the first to be raised, on 1 October 2020, with Taree to receive the next flags during 2021. Forster has received new seating and garden upgrades along busy Wharf Street as did Manning Street Tuncurry.
Stay tuned as we roll out vibrancy to other main streets as part as of this program!