Greater Esk Tourism is a group of committed locals from the valleys area of northeast Tasmania.

A local resident and textile artist, Rita Summers, raised the idea in 2011 of having an annual event in St. Marys, a town in the valleys area.

This event would be called Wrapped in St Marys, and would feature textile art around the power poles, as well as featuring other community events.

A group called St Marys Cranks and Tinkerers already run an annual car show on the first Sunday in June, and with their permission it was decided to run the new event on the same weekend, incorporating the car show as one of the 2 major highlight events.

Other community groups and businesses were invited to organise their own events, and to suggest ways they could participate.

Free advertising on the Wrapped in St Marys brochure was offered to those who responded.  The brochure also included details about Where to Stay and Where to Eat.

Funding for the event was obtained conditionally from Events Tasmania, with public liability being provided by Tasmanian Regional Arts (street art) and the Break O’Day Woodcraft Guild (car show).  The Break O’Day Council did all the printing (brochures and posters), and – very importantly – Aurora granted permission to use the power poles.

A major part of the funding was used for cash prizes for the textile art competition.  Entries were judged in 4 categories:

Textile Art – certificate and $300

Theme ‘power play’ – certificate and $200

Group, adult – certificate and $200

Group, junior – certificate and $150

The selection committee consisted of the following Greater Esk Tourism committee members:

• Peter Troode
• Mary Knowles
• Elaine Sullivan
• Keith Hefford
• Wendy Fowler

Entries and winners were selected anonymously, i.e. the selection committee chose them without knowing who had made the submitted entries.

The awards were presented at 4 p.m. at Gone Rustic Studio & Gallery on 2 June 2012.

Congratulations to the winners!  It was not easy to decide between them, as the standard of work was very impressive.  The winners (in reverse order) were St. Marys Child Care, St. Marys School Association Op Shop, Shelley Carin and Rita Summers.

[Rita Summers opted to donate her cash prize back to Greater Esk Tourism, and suggested that part of it be used to introduce a People’s Choice award.]

Greater Esk Tourism expresses heartfelt thanks to everyone who made the event possible, from the sponsors through the exhibitors and participating organisations to the ‘street patrol’ volunteers, who had to cope with cold and rain to make sure all the textile art was safe.

It wouldn’t have been possible without you!

Greater Esk Tourism (GET)