A new grant has secured the future of the Pave The Way To Gular Festival, creating more space in a town that has no spare inch left to paint. 

With the town’s shopfronts, water towers and footpaths covered in art, three newly erected billboards in Gulargambone’s Jean Walker Park will mark the beginnings of the fourth annual Pave The Way To Gular Festival, which will be held in September next year. 

*Local performer Brad Haling and young co-stars at the 2021 Pave the Way Festival. Photo Coonamble Times.

Gulargambone Community Enterprises Co-operative Director Annie Haling says the billboards will support the longevity of the festival in years to come. 

“Initially the idea was that we would paint over the artwork from the year before, but we love our art so much. Jean Walker Park is such a big space, who knows, maybe we could just keep adding billboards,” Mrs Haling said.

The popular festival’s move from the month of June hopes to see a surge in visitors to the area, where festival-goers can soak up the sun as they enjoy what the town has put on offer. 

“We put a lot of effort into trying to draw crowds, and if we strike a cold day like we have two out of the three years, a lot of people tend to be put off,” said Mrs Haling said. 

Cold weather aside, the event has enjoyed large crowds, drawing visitors from around the region to look at the art that covers the town’s surfaces. 

“The grey nomads love it, they tend to book a year in advance at the caravan parks and meet up with friends they made from the previous year,” she said. 

• One of the newest murals to grace the walls around Gulargambone by Lightning Ridge photographer and artist Viki Murray. PHOTO Coonamble Times

Mrs Haling believes that the beauty of the art festival, other than it being one of the only events like it in the region, is that there is something for everyone.

“The thing about public art is that the general public don't need to have an interest in art, or be artistic themselves. Public art is a means of beautifying the streetscape and expressing the identity of place. It is about creating an attraction to bring people together to the town and region thereby generating a cashflow for local businesses.'

"You don’t have to be a true believer or true lover of art because there’s so much more that the festival gives.”

The annual festival features murals on display throughout the town created by top artists from around the country, as well as a street party offering market stalls and street entertainment.

In 2021, a Sculpture Walk along the Gulargambone Creek was added to the attractions.

*Gulargambone Community Enterprises Co-op Secretary Annie Haling with Gular's favourite stiltwalker at the 2019 festival.

Since the festival was established in 2018, Gulargambone has enjoyed the visitors it has brought to the region, and the social and economic gain that is injected into the community each year.

“It puts Gulargambone on the map as a tourist destination. We want to stay relevant to New South Wales tourism, and we’re beautifying our town in the process,” Mrs Haling said.

In addition to the three billboards and a proposed pathway around the park, the $71,000 grant will support the work of 13 artists whose murals will be on display throughout the town next year.

Gulargambone's Pave The Way to Gular Festival will be held September 10 to 11, 2022.