The Limestone Coast was abuzz over the long weekend as locals and tourists made the most of the spring sunshine and a swathe of events.
Accommodation providers were overrun with bookings, while local eateries catered for thousands of visitors who had travelled to the region.
The region hosted events from the country to the coast, catering for sporting enthusiasts with the OG Roberts Northcott Contracting Master of Mac Park title and the Inline Mountain Bike Club downhill racing, as well as the Trident Tyre Centre Show n Shine, Brick Gambier, Beachport market, Blessing of the Fleet and Coonawarra Cabernet Festival.
Jen’s Hotel also added to the busy city centre, holding a three day celebration of spring which spilled out into Watson Terrace and the Cave Gardens.
The jam-packed weekend of events coincided with the October long weekend as well as the start of South Australian school holidays and the last weekend of the Victorian school holidays.
The Chamber’s president Candice Fennell said there was plenty of hustle and bustle, particularly in the Mount Gambier area.
“You can certainly tell from the buzz within the CBD and the outer limits there were plenty of people around,” she said.
“The Blue Lake and the Umpherston Caves were right up there for top attractions for tourists.
“The main street was absolutely busy, it’s got a buzz about it.”
Mrs Fennell said the local business community was growing in confidence, with new businesses opening.
“We have a really healthy and vibrant network of people using our businesses,” she said.
“There are plenty of tourists, for every SA number plate we are also seeing one from a different state at the moment.
“We have definitely got an influx of people from within SA and outside SA having a look around, some of the events happening over the weekend would have been attracting a lot of people here too.
“I visited a few different eateries over the weekend, everything was really vibrant, in the plaza environments as well as the main street area, there was also a lot of activity on Saturday and Friday evenings.”
Mrs Fennell said the busy weekend provided a great kick off into the Christmas season.
“What you see is people are using our local business community, as we lead into Christmas there are a lot of easy options for people to purchase things,” she said.
“The more we can support our local businesses the better.
“More are shifting to online services in addition to walk in through the shop front service.
“I would encourage residents to shop local, eat local, we have got so many new eateries open at the moment who have come online in the past few years, we have got such a broad representation of different nationalities.”
