Mayoral Column 17 April 2017

Published on 17 April 2017

New guide to entice visitors

Caption: the new-look Loddon Official Visitor Guide was well received at its launch last week.

I was proud to officially launch the Loddon Official Visitor Guide at the Inglewood Town Hall last week.

Over 70 people attended the launch in the historic hall, then took the opportunity to tour the new Town Hall Hub development.

The Loddon Valley Region’s Official Visitor Guide is the key destination marketing brochure designed to entice potential visitors to consider the Loddon Valley region for their next holiday.

As a single point of information for the region, the Visitor Guide highlights key tourism experiences, itinerary options and seasonal events within the region.

I was encouraged to see that 51 local tourism-related businesses advertised in this new Guide.

The feature section of the Loddon Valley Official Visitor Guide promotes Loddon Valley’s “points of difference” which l encourage local operators to pick up in their own marketing and promotions.

These are undiscovered villages, antiques and collectibles, untouched wilderness, water, rivers, and wetlands, welcome stranger – gold, locavore – local produce and sustainable living, and events.

I encourage locals and visitors alike to pick up a copy of the Guide from regional visitor centres, the Loddon Visitor Information Centre, Loddon Valley tourist stands, local businesses and major events.

New Australian citizen welcomed to Loddon Shire

I had the great honour of swearing in a new Australian at a citizenship ceremony held at the Wedderburn Council office last week.

Venkatesh (Venki) Polimetla came from India and now lives in Wedderburn with his wife.

Venki works at the Wedderburn service station, so please join me in welcoming him to Loddon Shire if you are fuelling up there.

Council farewells Ian

Last week, Loddon Shire Council said farewell to its Director Operations, Ian McLauchlan. Ian has worked with Council since 2008, and became a director in 2011.

During his career here, Ian has worked tirelessly to serve the Loddon Shire community, guiding the successful and efficient delivery of a significant flood recovery program early on, then continuing to manage Council’s broad range of day to day operations for his Directorate.

On behalf of Councillors, I would like to express my thanks to Ian for his dedication and effort during his work at Loddon Shire.

We wish Ian well on his family journey around Australia for an experience of a lifetime!

Council has made temporary arrangements to fill the role until a new Director is appointed.