Tag: West End

Ducks Race to Fight Cancer at West End’s Summertime Riverfest

The biggest duck race in Australia is all set and it’s all for a good cause. The ducks are psyched up and ready to battle cancer at this year’s Summertime Riverfest.

Photo credit: Give Cancer the Quack/Facebook

Summertime Riverfest promises to be one quacking day filled with live entertainment, great food and rubber duckies racing over the Brisbane River. The event will be on Saturday 21 October 2017 at Riverside Drive in West End.

The duck race event will benefit cancer research at the PA Research Foundation.

Event Details

What: Summertime Riverfest
When: Saturday 21 October 2017
12:00 noon – 8:00 p.m.
Where: Riverside Drive, West End

Get Duck Tickets

 

Main Race

Photo credit: Give Cancer the Quack/Facebook

The main race will be at 4:00 p.m. and will see thousands of rubber ducks sailing into the Brisbane River for a 100-metre race.

Winners of the race will win the following prices:

First prize: A Motor Vehicle Valued at $45,000.
Second prize: $15,000 Travel Voucher.
Third prize: A Stessco 389 Squire Boat with 2 Stroke Suzuki Outboard  Valued at $10,000.
Fourth prize: $4,200 Travel Voucher

The miniature ducks will be racing within a barricaded area. Event staff will collect them afterwards so that there are no rubber duckies left wandering around the river.

Quacking Fun Time

Giant ducks will also race at the Celebrity Duck Race, which will feature celebrities racing to the finish of a 50-metre course.

Photo credit: Give Cancer the Quack/Facebook

Food at the venue will not disappoint as the Regatta Hotel prepares a one-of-a-kind line up of delectable food at the Regatta Gourmet Street.

Holistic Hospitality also prepared Riverfest hampers for those who wish to do a picnic at the festival. A picnic hamper will include plates, cutlery, napkins as well as picnic blankets, which will be collected after the event. Part of the proceeds will go to Give Cancer the Quack!

Order a picnic hamper here.

Kids can play all day at the St George Gone Quackers Kids Zone. The kids’ zone will have face painting, tea cup rides, jumping castles and the St George Queensland Reds Inflatable Football Field.

It will be a fun-filled festival with entertainment from Network TEN celebrities live on stage. Ollie and Elly from Toasted TV will also be at the event.

Heading entertainment at the Pradella River Stage is the Antipodean Rock ‘n’ Roll Collective (ARC). The group features Kram from Spiderbat, Mark Wilson from Jet, Davey Lane from You Am I, and Darren Middleton from Powderfinger. They will be performing their hits from their respective bands.

Other performers include CKNU, Screamfeeder, Louise Adams,  LSPhilosophy, The Hi-Boys and We All Want To.

Ducks Against Cancer

Summertime Riverfest is organised and sponsored by Give Cancer the Quack, which aims to support cancer research at the PA Research Foundation.

Various prizes are up for grabs. Anyone can also make a donation to PA Research Foundation any time.

View the program.

Find out more about Summertime Riverfest.

Four Green Laneways Planned for West Village in West End

The love for laneways is strong in the inner city Brisbane area. In West End, four new green laneways will be developed as part of the West Village project.

Developer Sekisui House intends to provide walking and cycling spaces to the $800-million West Village precinct. Mollison Lane, Peters Lane, Wilson Lane and Factory Lane will be different from the usual laneways that are predominantly concrete.

Artist’s impression of Peters Lane. (Photo credit: westvillage.com.au)

The four laneways will have a total length of more than 250 metres if fully landscaped lanes.

Each laneway will have its distinct character and set of amenities, but they will all provide a sub-tropical atmosphere to West Village.

The West Village laneways capitalise on the success of laneways in the inner city. Laneway development has become an excellent way of revitalising what could have been a forgotten lane. Fish Lane in South Brisbane and Winn Lane in Fortitude Valley are two of the top success stories of laneway culture in Brisbane.

Photo credit: westvillage.com.au

Laneway Design

The design of the four laneways represents the demand for green spaces in West End. Wilson Lane, which will be an extension of Wilson Street, will provide a fresh sub-tropical feel to the area. Peters Lane will feature all the colours culture and aroma of cosmopolitan West End in one intimate and buzzing laneway.

Mollison Green is envisioned to be an open space that would allow the family to enjoy the retail space while the kids explore the play area. Factory Lane is planned to provide residents and visitors the lure of the historic charm of West End.

Uniting all the laneways is the common green park where anyone can simply relax, sit on the lawn and grab a drink. Providing the backdrop is the heritage-listed Peters Ice Cream factory.

The Peters Square will be turned into an experiential open-air market with a fusion of culinary and urban culture.

Photo credit: westvillage.com.au

Green Movement

The local clamour for more green spaces in the suburb is a huge consideration in the design for the West Village open space. Currently, West Village has a GoGet car sharing service. In the near future, West Village will provide 1,600 bicycle spaces and end-of-trip services for residents and visitors.

The 2.6-hectare West Village project is a mixed residential and retail precinct with 192 apartments, restaurants, boutiques, galleries, shops, parks and squares. Development of the first stage of the project is currently ongoing and will be completed by the end of 2018.

Thirty-percent of the precinct will be accessible to the public. Included in the public areas are the four laneways and almost one hectare of open spaces in two new parks.

Find out more about the West Village project.

Celebrate Vegan Lifestyle at Brisbane Vegan Markets at West End

Twice each month, local vegans converge in West End to celebrate everything vegan at Brisbane Vegan Markets.

Leading a vegan lifestyle is not an easy choice. Eating out would be agonisingly difficult considering the minimal choices of restaurants and menus offering plant-based dishes. Thankfully, Brisbane is home to select restaurants and retail establishments catering to vegans and those converting to a vegan lifestyle.

Photo credit: brisbaneveganmarkets/Instagram

Every second and fourth Sunday of the month, West End becomes the centre of everything vegan, including the choicest food, drinks, cosmetic products, clothes and everyday essentials.

The markets open at Russell Street corner Boundary Street in West End from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m every second Sunday of the month. The fourth Sunday of the month is a twilight event that happens from 12:00 noon up to 8:00 p.m.

Brisbane Vegan Markets Schedule:

Dates: 2nd Sunday of the Month
9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

4th Sunday of the Month
12:00 noon – 8:00 p.m.
Venue: Russell Street corner Boundary Street, West End

Supporting Vegan Community

Brisbane Vegan Markets, which started in November 2016, aims to support vegan traders, producers, charities and the entire community moving to end animal cruelty.

Photo credit: brisbaneveganmarkets/Instagram

The event is the perfect place for anyone starting to adopt a vegan lifestyle as there is plenty to learn just moving around the venue. The markets also provide live entertainment and cooking demonstrations aside from delectable treats from various food stalls.

Vegan lifestyle does not have to be insipid. Food can be scrumptious and healthy at the same time and that is what Brisbane Vegan Markets is all about.

At each Brisbane Vegan Markets, people can appreciate that animals need not be sacrificed for human survival and satisfaction.

Visit the Facebook page of Brisbane Vegan Markets to find updates on upcoming events and list of participating shops.

Read: Learn and Enjoy Vegetarian and Vegan Cooking at West End

Confidence Man – The West End Human Earthquake Hits BigSound

East End Boys, West End Girls, West End Girls … dududududu

Timeless lyrics from the Pet Shop Boys circa 1984. Those words came of age at Splendour in the Grass 2 weeks ago, when a West End-based funky foursome absolutely tore the house down with their set — in particular, Boyfriend (Repeat), led by a West End Girl … dudududu.

There was more energy on the stage than a nuclear power station! Triple J lauded the band from the rooftops and then took a pounding. Love ’em or hate them, Confidence Man has set tongues wagging and brought a fresh dimension to the live gig scene at festivals around the world in 2017. Glastonbury, A UK tour, raising the roof at Golden Plains and a swathe of gigs in Europe, tell you that these guys have caught fire, having been learning their electro-pop trade from various Brisbane bands including Moses Gunn Collective for years.

Janet Planet (aka Grace “no names, no packdrill, no not the stateside jazz singer with the same pseudonym!”) hanging out by day at a funky startup in West End, performs in combination with the well-named Sugar Bones (aka Aidan “no names, no packdrill”), along with Reggie Goodchild and Clarence McGuffie (Lewis and Sam) under beekeeper hats.

Having witnessed this maelstrom of flailing limbs to a bass line that demanded attention with a massive tongue-in-cheek humour and a substantial dose of sass … you may want to get on down to BigSound here in Brisvegas in September.

This wild West End crowd has been booked! Assuming Janet Planet (ahem, Grace…) can find a decent chiropractor; Sugar Bones can continue his “confidence-inducing,” zero calorie intake diet; and ‘vegas doesn’t suffer from a mass bee infestation, these crazy cats will definitely be causing a minor earthquake across the Valley of Fortitude.

West End Boys and West End Girls … dududududu

West End and Other Inner-City Suburbs Lead Rise in Graffiti Tags

After years of decline, graffiti tags have spiked in the 2016-17 financial year in Brisbane, with West End topping the list with the most number of tags.

Graffiti data from Brisbane City Council revealed that there were 83,334 graffiti tags, up from 59,278 in 2016-16. This was a huge surge, considering that since 2009-10 financial year, the number of tags has gone down each year from 139,891 tags in 2009-10 down to 59,278 in 2015-16.

Inner City Graffiti

The concentration of vandalism for the past two years has been in the Brisbane CBD and the inner-city suburbs. West End registered the most number of tags in the past year, with 4,229 tags, followed by Brisbane CBD with 4,017.

Other suburbs in the top 10 are South Brisbane, Fortitude Valley, Fitzgibbon, Woolloongabba, Forest Lake, Greenslopes, Oxley and Calamvale.

Cost of Vandalism

Photo credit: Bin im Garten/Wikimedia Commons

The cost for the council to remove and prevent vandalism is over $3 million each year. Last year, the council spent more than $4 million to remove 83,000 graffiti tags.

In the next three financial years, the council intends to enhance its graffiti intelligence system, with funds allocated to upgrade how it catalogues graffiti tags.

Vandalism Prevention

To reduce the incidence of graffiti tagging in Brisbane, the council is urging citizens to report if they see vandalism in their area. The council also provided information on how locals can prevent vandalism in their area.

Some of the effective ways of preventing graffiti through environmental design include maintaining clear sight lines, providing adequate lighting, using wall texture or colours that are not amenable to graffiti tagging.

The council also engages groups involved in community mural art projects to provide young people with an artistic outlet, thereby reducing the inclination to vandalise.

Mural projects can help prevent vandalism. (Photo credit: Brisbane Graffiti/Facebook)

In case that there is vandalism in the area, locals should report immediately. They can do any of the following:

First Brisbane Japanese Festival Happening in West End, Tickets to Japan at Stake

West Village in West End will turn into a Japanese getaway celebrating all things ‘Japan’ in August.

As part of Japan Week Brisbane celebrations, West Village is hosting the first-ever Brisbane Japanese Festival.

Attendees will be immersed in Japanese culture, from everybody’s favourite Japanese cuisine to dance and music. Japanese personalities based in Brisbane will be at the event to provide entertainment, while chefs will teach a thing or two about Japanese cuisine.

Photo credit: CC-BY/Rool Paap/Flickr

West Village will host street food stalls where people can get their fill of yakitori, gyoza, sushi, tempura, karaage, poke bowls and bento boxes with their choice of Japanese dishes. The gastronomic experience won’t be complete without the sake, whiskey and bubble. There will be bars to serve Japanese drinks.

Bonsai gardens, origami folding, lanterns and Japanese drumming will provide the perfect atmosphere to give guests a sampling of Japanese culture.

 

Event Details:

What: Brisbane Japanese Festival
When: Saturday, 19 August 2017
11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Where: West Village
97 Boundary Street, West End
Cost:

 

 

 

 Adult (18yo+) – $10 + booking fee
Youth (6yo-17yo) – $5 + booking fee
Child (5yo and under) – FREE

Buy Tickets

 

Trip for 2 to Japan

Brisbane Japanese Festival should be a good preview for a lucky guest who will win two roundtrip tickets to Japan. The prize is valued at $3,000 and will be given as a travel voucher.

All tickets booked online will go into the draw. The winner must be at least 18 years old to be eligible.

Buy Tickets

Visit the festival website

Get directions to the venue

West End State School to be Expanded, Two New Schools Opening in Inner City

Inner city Brisbane locals are soon to see their wish for additional schools become a reality, with two new schools set to be built and West End State School slated to be expanded.

The positive news was announced by the Queensland government, which is allotting $500 million for the three projects. This is in response to the clamour of parents in the inner city area for additional schools as current schools are over their capacity. The budget falls within the Building Future Schools Fund of the government.

Part of the plan is the use of the former site of Fortitude Valley State School, which was previously planned to be sold. A new school will be constructed on that site and classes should start by 2020. This school will be built in partnership with the Queensland University of Technology.

A new location is yet to be determined for the other new school planned to be built in the inner-south. This will be delivered with the help of the University of Queensland. Once built, it would become an alternative to Brisbane State High School.

West End State School will also receive funding for its expansion to accommodate an increasing number of students. The plan involves the purchase of a lot parallel to the school, on Horan Street. This lot will be used for the additional classrooms.

Responding to Population Growth

The $500-million fund is a direct response of the government to the long-standing education issue in the inner-city area.  Parents have been expressing concern over the inadequate number of schools to meet the demand of a growing population in the area.

The stronger demand for schools is a result of the rapid increase in the number of apartments in the area. In fact, a large number of students in the inner city area was found to be living in apartments.

Read:  West End Apartment Boom Causing Public School Overcrowding
Read:  How the Apartment Industry in West End is Causing Problems for Schools

Because of the lure of the inner city in terms of lifestyle and the quality of education, people from the outer suburbs are trading their houses for apartment life in the inner city.

Each of the two new schools will have a capacity of 1,200 to 1,500 students, while West End State School will increase capacity from 952 students to 1,500 students.

West End Charity Delivers Mobile Medical Service to the Homeless and Disadvantaged

Micah Projects of West End is taking social services a notch higher with its mobile medical service for homeless and disadvantaged individuals.

The charitable organisation was chosen by Brisbane City Council in December 2016 from a group of charity organisations that expressed interest in running the mobile health service. The council provided Micah Projects with a funding of $1 million to kick-start the program which will bring health services to people who are rough sleeping and those who are still transitioning from homelessness to housing.

It is through its Inclusive Health Partnerships that Micah Projects is providing mobile healthcare services. With the funding from the city council, Micah Projects was able to roll out three mobile health vans across the city to provide services such as wound care, medical support and management, chronic disease management and direct nursing services to vulnerable people.

Not only are the health workers giving medical attention to homeless people, they are also taking care of anyone who is in danger of losing their home or those who are suffering from social isolation or victims of domestic violence.

Micah Projects is delivering the mobile healthcare service with the help of partners Mater Queensland, St. Vincent’s Private Hospital Brisbane, Brisbane North PHN, Brisbane South PHN, Tzu Chi and Brisbane City Council.

The Inclusive Health program aims to address health inequality in the city, helping ensure that everyone regardless of economic or life circumstances can get high-quality health services. Health workers also ensure that people who receive their services are treated with dignity and respect.

Addressing Homelessness

The mobile healthcare service is part of the broader task of Micah Projects to address homelessness. Through its Inclusive Health program, health workers can connect and collaborate with other Micah Projects support teams that can provide housing support, domestic violence assistance, family support, disability assistance, social inclusion support and assistance in hospital discharge and follow-up medical care.

The core commitment of Micah Projects is to end homelessness in Brisbane, one person at a time. The group’s work revolves around breaking barriers that block some members of society from accessing housing, health care, employment and meaningful connections.

The non-for-profit group counts on good-hearted people to support them in this endeavour. Anyone who wishes to help may volunteer their time or donate money to the cause.

Visit Micah Projects’ website to learn more about the health and other services of Micah Projects.

West End Opens Community Composting Hub

West End is providing locals with a better option in discarding their kitchen scrap after it opened a community composting hub at Jane Street Community Garden.

The new Community Composting Hub was inaugurated on 13 May 2017, in line with the expansion of the community composting hub project of Brisbane City Council. The city council decided to expand the project after a successful trial of the first batch of community composting hubs.

The trial run of the community hubs resulted in the diversion of almost 6,000 litres of organic waste from the city’s landfill. Because of the success of the trial hubs, the council is opening new hubs to support its Clean, Green and Sustainable Strategy.

Jane Street Community Garden, located at 103 Jane St, is one of the three new hubs that were recently added to the program. Other hubs that were opened are in Yeronga, Annerley, Sunnybank Hills and Morningside.

The council is urging West End residents and locals living near the area to regularly bring their kitchen scrap to the composting hub. By joining the community composting program, residents will also learn how their kitchen scrap can be turned into garden compost.

Participants in the program can get a free caddy where they can place their food waste. Occasionally, there are workshops hosted at Jane Street Community Garden and other community gardens. Visit the community garden’s website at www.janestgarden.org.au or find composting workshops at other community gardens.

To join the program, register at the Brisbane City Council website.

 

West End to Host the First Brisbane Ice Cream Festival

The countdown continues. Registration starts on March 1. Hurry, slots are limited!

Brisbane’s first ice cream festival is fast approaching, and ice cream lovers are eagerly counting the days until Saturday, March 11.

Widely regarded as Brisbane’s foodie precinct, West End will soon become a mecca for ice cream aficionados of all ages, as they all flock towards the historic Peters Ice Cream Factory on 97 Boundary Street.

Go for that ultimate sweet fix, as the coolest vendors in town try to top each other. Wait until you see what they have in store for you at their pop-up stalls:

You can start with some soft serve goodness from Ruby the Little Red Ice Cream Van.

 

Get your gelato, pronto! From La Macelleria.

 

Okay, calm down. Gelato Messina is in town too. Take your pick.

 

Have a doughnut and some ice cream. Better yet, the ice cream on the doughnut! From the Doughnut Bar.

 

How about some deep-fried ice cream pops from IcePhile?

 

Try the rolled ice cream from Ice Cream Curls.

 

Liquid nitrogen magic from Nitrogenie.

 

Or have a Mister Fitz masterpiece.

 

Vegan? If you’re loco for some coco(nut), check out Cocowhip.

 

Cowch lets you design your own naked pops for an udderly delicious treat.

 

Did I tell you the Boss Bites?

 

Get your caffeine fix in, with coffee-flavoured licks from the Queen of Pops.

 

J’adore les crepes. Enough said.

 

Everything’s cool AND sunny with Frozen Sunshine Ice Blocks.

 

Hett’s n Ice Shaved Ice in rainbow-tastic colors

 

Delicious treats from Alfred & Constance.

 

And if you’re feeling adventurous, try the Bundaberg Ginger Beer Sorbet from Minus32.

 

Do you think that’s all? Think again. As if things aren’t going to get exciting enough, Hit105 will be playing some live music. And don’t forget to try the Ice Cream Burgers, a Brisbane Ice Cream Festival exclusive from Red Hook.

Fancy some savoury treats and still more drinks? Check these stalls out:
Micasa Food Truck
Rolls Pho Mi
Two Teas
King of the Wings

Here’s the deal. The Brisbane Ice Cream Festival’s Facebook event page has been swamped. 35,000 people “interested”. 8,700 “going”. You read that right. Thousands are visiting West End! What can we say, Brisbane REALLY loves her ice cream.

So, heads-up for the registration mechanics.

Entry is free. Ticket registration will open at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, March 1. There will be three registration sessions: 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., and 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Each session has a registration cap of 1,800 tickets. There is a maximum of five tickets per person.

REGISTER HERE

Other Reminders

The festival organizers have announced that there is limited street parking and no on-site parking. Visitors are urged to take Translink’s bus and train service to the festival grounds. A special tie-up with Uber will give festival goers $20 off their first ride, with a dedicated pick-up and drop-off service at Boundary Street. Uber users should key in the promo code JUSTFORLICKS to avail of the promotion. The festival is not a dog-friendly event, so it’s best to leave your pets at home.

Media Credits: Photos and video from the Brisbane Ice Cream Festival Facebook page.