A community New Year's Eve celebration with fireworks will be held at Lake Canobolas on December 31 following a decision at Tuesday night's Orange City Council meeting.
LAKE: The skies over Lake Canobolas will be lit up by fireworks for New Years Eve.
The meeting considered a report produced after a Council meeting earlier in the year asked for staff to investigate options, followed by a briefing workshop with councillors.
The staff report looked at the options of staging the event at Lake Canobolas or the Waratah Sportsground, and recommended it be held at the lake.
The report and its attachments stated the event target budget would be $104,500, comprised of $62,830 in Council funding and up to $42,000 in sponsorship from local businesses.
The costs would include:
- $26,500 for fireworks
- $18,400 for audio-visual operations, including lighting and loudspeakers and staging
- $11,500 for buses and traffic management
- $18,000 for bands and children's entertainment
- $6,200 for staffing including lifeguards
- $10,900 toilets, generator and furniture hire, together with bins, and consumables
- $8,000 printing, media, signs and merchandise
- $5,000 for contingencies
Orange Mayor Jason Hamling is pleased that detailed planning for the event can now begin.
"The New Year's Eve celebrations have always been a fantastic family event and I'm delighted that a way has been found to add fireworks to the package," Cr Jason Hamling said.
"Lake Canobolas is a great venue that attracts thousands of local residents each year. I'm imagining the lake as the backdrop on a brilliant summer evening with live music and other family entertainment.
"Now that Council has made the decision, planning can begin in earnest and there are many arrangements still to be made. The size of the event will come down to how much sponsorship local businesses are willing to contribute.
"It's only a short distance out of town and a fleet of buses will make the event accessible."
Cr Glenn Floyd, who moved the initial motion at a Council meeting in February to look into staging a fireworks display, said he was excited by the latest plans.
"I was very keen to look for a way to make a fireworks display the centrepiece of a New Year's celebration," Cr Glenn Floyd said.
"Realistically I know that there's always going to be doubts over whether a fireworks display in the middle of Summer is going to be able to go ahead, but doing it at the Lake is going to give us the best chance of it happening."
The report to Tuesday night's meeting said the proposed fireworks at Lake Canobolas had received in-principle support from Canobolas Rural Fire Service and Cabonne Council.
