Chair of the Inverell Showground Land Managers Ray White, left, shows Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall the old arena lights which will be replaced following the announcement of a $593,780 State Government stimulus grant.
Thursday, 8 April 2021
THE stage is set for Inverell Showground to become the town’s number one venue for night time entertainment and events, with Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall this week announcing a blinding $593,780 State Government stimulus grant to upgrade lighting and install a new roof over recently constructed grandstands.
In the last 12 months, the State Government has provided $1,287,957 in stimulus and grant funding for projects to improve Inverell Showground.
Mr Marshall said the installation of new arena lighting would build on works already done to upgrade underground power and replace road lighting.
“The existing ring and arena lighting is old and the bulbs are expensive to replace whenever one blows,” Mr Marshall said.
“Currently, the showground’s land managers are communicating with Essential Energy and undertaking their own lighting study, to determine if LED or alloy lights are the brightest and most cost-effective option moving forward.
“While the details around which lights will be used is being finalised, the land managers will proceed with replacing the old wooden light posts with steel towers and installing new underground cabling.
“Also, to improve comfort for spectators an all weather steel roof will be built over the new grandstands providing, shade from the sun and protection from bad weather,” Mr Marshall said.
Chairman Inverell Showground Land Managers Ray White said the new development would continue efforts to make the facility financially viable.
“In order to make the showground more appealing as a venue for community events we are considering a lighting system which can be dimmed depending on the events size,” Mr White said.
“If the entire ring is not needed for a particular reason this system would allow us to reduce the amount of light in a certain area, which in turn would lower the user group’s power bill and venue hire.
“Riding off the back of the other electrical upgrades currently underway, and funded by our previous stimulus grant, this project should be relatively simple to deliver and it is our hope it will be complete by Christmas.”