Byron Bay

Today is Harmony Day in Byron!! Lots of great food and entertainment happening in Railway Park… from 12-9pm… it also sees the last of the Artisans Markets happening for this season… Get along and enjoy the festivities!!

New Year’s Eve 2012 New Year’s Eve at Byron Bay’s beachfront this year features twilight beach market, amusements rides, entertainment and two fireworks shows. Byron Shire Mayor Simon Richardson said there is nothing more ‘Byron’ than watching the sun going down over the hinterland as you are sitting on the beachfront with family and friends. “It’s a wonderful way to say goodbye to the year and reflect on the superb place in which we live,” he said. The drug and alcohol free event starts at 4pm in Apex Park, Byron Bay, and is being held in partnership with Byron United. Mayor Richardson thanked Byron United for again supplying the fireworks for the New Year Eve’s celebration. “This year the businesses have very kindly [...]

The Beachside Markets are a 100% make it, bake it, grow it market held on the Byron Bay beachfront near the surf club at main beach. Open from 8 – 4pm this market showcases a diverse and exciting collection of high quality art, sculpture, ceramics, glass, home wares, fashion, craft, toys, clothing and music created by local artists and designers as well as an array of services offered by our health and wellbeing practitioners. The focus and emphasis of the Beachside Market is on authenticity and fosters both originality and sustainability. Its conception echoes the worldwide popularity and growing demand for direct-from-the-artist-to- you handmade, high quality and affordable art and design. This Artisan Market provides an unparalleled opportunity for artists, [...]

The Lismore Blisstas in 2011. WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN THE SAMBA BLISSTAS? THEN HERE’S YOUR CHANCE! Hugely popular Northern Rivers percussion band, the Samba Blisstas are recruiting new members across the Northern Rivers through a series of ‘Carnival Drumming & Percussion’ workshops and courses in Bangalow, Kingscliff and Ballina. There are now three versions of the Blisstas across the North Coast, due to their ever increasing popularity!  The Ballina Blisstas at Ballina, Samba Blisstas at Bangalow and the King Blisstas at Kingscliff. The ‘Blisstas’ are running  four-week courses across the North Coast as part of their 2012 recruitment drive. Courses will be held on Tuesdays in Bangalow at the Bangalow Pavilion Hall (starting May 1, 6pm to 8pm), Wednesdays at the [...]

“VOLUNTEER AND BE A STAR” BYRON BAY COMMUNITY CENTRE ‘Connection to the community makes you feel good, useful and wanted’. Byron Bay at the heart of the Shire is filled with many different people who volunteer to make the community a wonderful place to work and play. On March 15th 2012, the Byron Community Centre is hosting the second Byron Shire Volunteer Expo. An exciting community celebration showcasing organisations in the shire that rely on volunteers as part of their workforce.Volunteer contributions keep the community vibrant and alive. The Byron Shire has an amazing diversity of organisations that need volunteers - from art projects to theatre, landcare, music performances and community events. The Expo will showcase these organisations and provide an opportunity [...]

If you’re on Facebook, then you might like to give us a ‘like’ there too… byronbay.org links through to our Facebook site Byron Bay News… all of the news items posted on byronbay.org also find their way to our Facebook site and a lot more… so go to the link below, give us a ‘like’ and start getting our extended updates on all things Byron. If you have anything you’d like to share with us, news stories, information about events and happenings in the Byron Shire, then just post them on our Facebook site and we’ll share them… http://www.facebook.com/byronbaynews

Max McPherson (14), of Kingscliff, Merryn Anderson and Dianne Styling, of Sydney and Molly McPherson (10) got their hands dirty to save the Byron Shire Markets. WHEN Suzie Mylecharane started her clothing business 32 years ago it was the local craft markets that were her business training ground. Starting with just two clothes racks and learning the ropes at each monthly Byron Community Market, the Myocum designer has built up her business, Ku Clothing, to the point where she wholesales around Australia. Ms Mylecharane believes the supportive market culture that gave her such a head start is under threat with a new Byron Shire Council draft market policy and tender process currently on display. The draft policy will potentially allow [...]

Swedish tourists Emma Lund and My Borggren, both aged 20, having fun under the sun while on holiday in Byron Bay. ALMOST 90% of Byron shire’s tourists are happy with their holiday experience, despite growing concerns about parking, traffic, cleanliness of the public toilets and the state of the roads. A new survey released this week – the Byron Shire Visitor Profile and Satisfaction report – was under- taken by Tourism Research Australia in partnership with Byron Shire Council and Destination NSW. Of the tourists surveyed, 87% said they were “satisfied” with their experience, with 44% “very satisfied”. But councillor Basil Cameron, chairman of the council’s Tourism Advisory Committee, admitted there was “plenty of room for improvement”. “The results showed [...]

THUMBS UP: Stallholders celebrate the return of the Byron Bay Artisans Market. STALLHOLDERS breathed a sigh of relief after Byron Council last week gave the go-ahead for the Byron Artisans Market to be held in Byron Bay’s Railway Park over the summer. The immediate future of the market was clouded because of a delay in completing a new shirewide markets policy and there were fears the market would not be able to be held. However, the council last week voted to give the Byron Bay Community Association (BBCA), which runs the market, a temporary licence from this Saturday to April 7 next year. Market co-ordinator Tess Cullen said the decision was a great relief for the 33 stallholders who relied [...]

Earthdance Byron 2011 – Give Peace a Dance! Electric Forest is very excited to announce this year’s Earthdance Byron event at Durrumbul Hall on Saturday September 24th 2011 7:30 to midnight. This is a great opportunity to celebrate the spring equinox and a potent date astrologically with Mars trine Uranus equalling quantum shifts of perspective and tackling challenges in new ways…a chance to free your body and free your mind to Byron’s funkiest electronic grooves. Earthdance Byron is the region’s longest running annual dance music festival. This year’s line-up features local live world/electro/hip-hop fusion act Nakula and world-renowned DJ’s Ray Castle, Pop and pob – Earthdance Byron is once again shaping up to be the region’s dance event of the year. [...]

This week Byron United launch their Byron Naturally campaign unveiling the one ‘face’ that has been chosen to represent our entire region. I’ve watched with interest as women with faces (those too off their face were immediately disqualified; can’t have the face of Byron pulling on a bong) have competed not to be the face of a new generation but a new generalisation. This is the one face that is supposed to speak to the values and diversity of our entire community. Tolkien could have been working for Tourism NSW, because it would appear it’s his strategy that’s been employed to haul in fresh tourist meat. ‘In the Land of Byron Bay, where the shadows lie. One face to rule them all, one face to fi nd them, one face to [...]

Byron Bay’s peak business lobby group Byron United and the Byron Bay Community Association are at loggerheads over the association’s push to establish asecond permanent monthly market in the town. BYRON BAY’S peak business group, Byron United, and the Byron Bay Community Association are facing off over plans to make the trial second Byron Bay monthly market a permanent fixture. Byron United says a permanent second market “is not acceptable” to its members, while the community association, which manages the market, says it is “disappointed” with Byron United’s stance. A trial second monthly market has been held at the Butler Street Reserve during summer, with the trial due to end after the March 20 market. Byron United president Sevegne Newton [...]

ANGELA NEBELUNG is the personification of Byron Bay. This is why the blonde-haired beauty should be Byron United’s Natural Face of Byron, she believes. The 29-year-old knows the seaside town like the back of her hand and is overwhelmingly proud to be a born-and-bred local. “Did you know that the glass light (in the lighthouse) was imported from France and brought up via horse and carriage in 1901? I can tell you anything you need to know about Byron,” she said. The part-time model has her own concierge business, where she puts her multi-linguist (Japanese and Indonesian) skills to practice. “I just love the fact Byron is never the same everyday. There are so many different people and things to [...]

New plan needed: Byron United Chamber of Commerce vice-president Paul Waters says last year’s New Year’s Eve celebrations in Byron Bay were “an embarrassment”. NEW Year’s Eve celebrations at Byron Bay are an embarrassment says the vice-president of the Byron United Chamber of Commerce, Paul Waters. He said local businesses planned to form a committee that would discuss an event that was more in line with celebrations around the world. “At the very least we need some fireworks or a laser show,” he said. “What about some music, on a sound stage, a compere and a countdown to the New Year?” He added that the current “family friendly” entertainment that included a street fair was “rubbish”, “so last century” and [...]

The Samba-Blisstas will perform in Byron Bay tomorrow as part of New Year’s Eve celebrations. A low-key and family-friendly event – that’s what’s on offer for New Year’s Eve in Byron Bay. Starting from 4pm tomorrow with the Byron Bay twilight beach market and amusement rides, the markets will feature local artisans, a variety of stalls and buskers on the main Byron Bay foreshore. Byron Shire Mayor Cr Jan Barham said the low-key event was being staged by the council to promote a family-friendly event for residents and visitors. “The Samba-Blisstas will perform from 7.30pm and McGregors Festival Amusements will have a range of rides to entertain the whole family and with the market stalls it should be a fun [...]

THE Byron rumour mill kicked into overdrive yesterday as word leaked that Oprah Winfrey will visit Byron Bay this Friday. Ms Winfrey’s American guest audience of 300 flew into Sydney amid a shroud of subterfuge yesterday as they begin their eight-day tour across the country ahead of Ms Winfrey, who is expected to fly in by private jet today. Close friend Olivia Newton-John’s resort, the Gaia resort near Bangalow, is tipped as the most likely destination for the famous talk show queen. A bemused Gaia manager Leanne Schoen remained coy yesterday. “If you find out she’s coming, you let me know because I’ll need some warning,” she quipped. A forward scouting party from Chicago visited the Byron Shire several months [...]

Schoolies HUB volunteers getting hand-out packs ready for distribution during schoolies celebrations are (from left) Marty Saam, Nicqui Yazdi (Byron Schoolies Safety Response & HUB Coordinator) and Annie Krige. THE first wave of schoolies is expected to hit Byron Bay today as teenagers start arriving for their end of year celebrations. Volunteers were busy finalising preparations and erecting the HUB tent on the beachfront in Apex Park yesterday. Lorrie Thomson, manager of the East on Byron and Waves resorts, said while most places around town were full, schoolies still only represented half of the bookings, but she was expecting the full onslaught from next weekend. “The bottom line is it’s great for the economy,” she said. “We will get a [...]

The Byron Schoolies Safety Response will be getting a big helping hand from Byron Youth Service (BYS) and BUDDI-CDAT (Byron Underage Drinking & Drug Initiative) for this years school leavers celebrations. BYS and BUDDI received a grant from the NRMA to provide a ‘Summer Safety in the Bay’ campaign and will be launching their program at Schoolies this year. Amongst other things, the NRMA funding has purchased 150 identifiable t-shirts for the volunteers of the Schoolies HUB and also volunteers for other high traffic times over summer, including New Years Eve. In an effort to reduce the amount of disposable cups that were used at last years Schoolies HUB, the NRMA grant will also enable the purchase refillable, biodegradable water [...]

Assess and respond to individuals at risk of suicide A statement of attainment in: Suicide Prevention (CHCCS521A). A short course funded by the NSW Department of Education that gives you a Statement of Attainment from the Diploma of Community Services for the unit: Assess and respond to individuals at risk of suicide (CHCCS521A) is a 6 day in depth training program at Diploma level. Course Content This course will go MUCH DEEPER than ‘Mental Health First Aid’ and include how to build collaborative relationships with persons at risk and how to listen to what lies behind thoughts of suicide.  This course funs for 6 full days (9am to 4pm) of training and will give you a Statement of Attainment at Diploma level. [...]