By CENTRAL WEST LACHLAN LANDCARE Thank you to everyone that contributed to our post-Homegrown Parkes event surveys. We were thrilled with your responses and want to share a bit of insight into the feedback. I must say a massive thank you to our stallholders and food vendors. The last Homegrown Parkes event received very positive feedback, with ratings for overall event, location and spacing and processes over 9 out of 10. We are so pleased to be able to profile our wonderful local niche businesses and appreciate your support. Our community feedback was also fabulous, with the average of respondents rating the event 8 out of 10. We changed some locations and spacing in the Park and utilised the western side more as well as keeping the main area in front of the Pavilion active. Given the changes, we were happy with the rating of 8 out of 10. The priority to the Homegrown Parkes Committee, is keeping the focus on providing an event where people can learn, relax, connect and be entertained. We love to have the opportunity to profile our small businesses. We are happy with the number of stallholders that we have currently. We aren’t focussed on a bigger event. We are focused on sharing quality local and regional vendors. As mentioned previously, our Spring event will be celebrating cultural diversity and we are pleased to be holding Homegrown Parkes on Saturday, 21 March 2026, which is also Harmony Day! Our Spring event will be held on Saturday, 12 September 2026. We will be sharing the lucky recipients of the survey draw in the next week. We will be giving away coffee, keep-it cups, lucerne hay, a beautiful work from Glenn Sloane and a gift pack from Tumbling Downs Olives. We try to factor in your suggestions moving forward, particularly around demonstrations, workshops, educational opportunities and stallholder suggestions. If you have thought about having a stall at Homegrown Parkes and are just starting out, you will need $20 million insurance (which might be easier to get than you expect, so don’t let that put you off). Food vendors also require their Food Safety Supervisor certification and there may be other requirements specific to food vendors that we request when Expressions of Interest (EOI) are submitted. EOI will be open next week! For further information on this article, please go to www.centralwestlachlanlandcare.org, Facebook or Instagram @cwllandcare or contact Marg Applebee on 0418 611 053
