THE eighth annual Blackwood Whole Town Garage Sale takes place this weekend, with proceeds to go towards completion of a major local project.<\/p>\n
Money raised from map sales, a sausage sizzle and fees from participating properties will be used to pay for finalising Windfall, the working title of a locally produced documentary about the freak storm in June 2021 that left widespread destruction in its wake.<\/p>\n
Garage sale organiser Jinny Coyle said she expected to have a final tally of about 17 participating properties, which is the average number of participants each year.<\/p>\n
Maps of participating properties will be available in the town centre from Ms Coyle for $5 each from 7.45am tomorrow, Saturday 7 March.<\/p>\n
“People will get their map and then they go around town and chase each other around trying to get bargains,” Ms Coyle said.<\/p>\n
“It’s really, really fun. It’s great for the community, it’s a great way to recycle stuff. It’s a lot of fun for the community as well, just to catch up with people.<\/p>\n
“This year has been such a hard year with fires and heat and everything, I think it will just be a lovely day for people to catch up and chat and grab a bargain.”<\/p>\n
Ms Coyle said the 2025 sale raised about $6000 through stallholder fees.<\/p>\n
“The pub did really well that day, they were flat out, and the post office (and cafe) actually had people waiting for coffees before we even started,” she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Coyle started organising the whole town garage sales as a way to raise money for local causes, and this year the storm documentary was identified as needing some help.<\/p>\n
She said official funding was received when the project began but had not been enough to cover the ultimate production costs.<\/p>\n
“It’s so close to finished now; the final editing is being done now, then it will go on to a sound guy. They’re both doing it on a voluntary basis,” Ms Coyle said, adding that most contributions had been voluntary.<\/p>\n
“We’ve just got no funds left to do the launch.”<\/p>\n
The documentary’s director, local artist Brendan Hehir, said Blackwood was one of the last areas to be hit by the storm as it moved west.<\/p>\n
Mr Hehir said the storm was unusual because it came from the east, whereas major systems normally came in from the west or north-west.<\/p>\n
He said winds of up to 180km\/h lasted for 12 hours and knocked out power and communications in Blackwood.<\/p>\n
“The forest was absolutely roaring and people in Blackwood were under their beds because there was nothing else you could do,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Sixty-metre giants (trees) were raining down all around us.”<\/p>\n
Mr Hehir said locals found themselves isolated for about 10 days, and the documentary grew from his idea of obtaining some aerial drone footage of the damage.<\/p>\n
He said he took a film producer who has a holiday house in Blackwood to show her what he described as “absolute moonscape” of what used to be forest, and she said a film should be made of it.<\/p>\n
The producer, Lizzette Atkins, enlisted the help of a friend from Daylesford who had drone footage, and the project began.<\/p>\n
Mr Hehir said interviews were conducted with locals, officials and experts who recounted their experiences and thoughts about the event.<\/p>\n
He said it was hoped the 30-minute documentary would be launched in the next few months, with distribution to be arranged after its local launch.<\/p>\n
“It’s looking good,” Mr Hehir said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE eighth annual Blackwood Whole Town Garage Sale takes place this weekend, with proceeds to go towards completion of a major local project. Money raised from map sales, a sausage sizzle and fees from participating properties will be used to pay for finalising Windfall, the working title of a locally produced documentary about the freak […]<\/p>\n