"Campbelltown residents working together to create a better community" In early June 2000, Riverfest, Campbelltown's World Environment Day event was held at Koshigaya Park. It is organised annually by the Macarthur Branch of the National Parks Association of NSW with the support of Campbelltown City Council.
Whilst the event highlights the Georges River and encourages river friendly behaviour, it also provides information on waste minimisation, recycling and composting.
The whole idea is to attract people who wouldn't normally be involved in environmental activities. The local newspapers carry stories in the weeks leading up to the day, awareness is raised at the Campbelltown Show after Easter, but it is the entertainment which provides a focus for both performers, their families and friends and the public.
This year, we were very fortunate indeed to have the co-operation of the Migrant Resource Centre. They provided contacts with community workers both within and outside the centre. Thanks to them, Riverfest had entertainment from the Fillipino, Arabic and Lao communities. Georgia and Suzie Close provided contacts too, as did Brendan from Campbelltown's Bicentennial Art Gallery.
But, of course, this wasn't all. Trevar Langlands, Margot Shugg and Melisa Swinney sprouted their poetry, Fisher's Ghost Orchestra performed within a stone's throw of the creek of the same name, the band Crimson sang whenever needed, and the Macquarie Fields Public School Jump Rope For Heart Group showed us tricks with ropes that left us spellbound.
The St Helen's Park Stomp Group fitted in well with the recycling and waste minimisation theme, using garbage tin lids and discarded containers as instruments. The boys only started to play this year too! Kathryn Bonner's Academy of Dance were no less enthusiastic but more refined, Zoha Stafford sang with such clarity and Sharon and Natalie Potaka just arrived on the day and volunteered to sing too. Compere for the day was Brad Dean, a student at the local campus of University of Western Sydney.
As a thank you for their entertainment and helping to educate the public, each group was given a card of either Mundurama Reserve, Darling Avenue Reserve, or Lake Burrendah. In case you're wondering why, the creeks which meander through these reserves all flow into the Georges River .......... eventually. Spring Creek, Peter Meadows Creek and Bunbury Curran Creek are all major tributaries of the Georges River. Pollute these creeks and the Georges River is degraded over time!