How we are #celebratingCommunity
Celebrating the arts and local neighbourhood streets of Perth, the Northbridge Common Town Team hosted a free, hyper-local, musical street Festival, PorchFest 2024. The event was held on the gorgeous heritage listed Moir Street in the Perth suburb. Thanks to the City of Vincent and local sponsors, Claude Iaconi and Willing Property, we put on one of our most successful events yet. We had a wonderful group of 40 local volunteers on the day. We also had a dedicated planning committee spending 6 months helping to plan the event. They were led by their amazing chair and Northbridge Common member Erin Taylor. The event saw over 500 attendees, 2 food trucks (Little Dutchies and George’s Greek Streats), as well as 10 very talented local musical acts. RUAH also hosted a “chill zone”. While we know we can’t make this a yearly event, we hope we can do it again in the future. We were so glad to have the cooperation of the local residents in the area. Local Music acts included a variety of genres such as jazz, hip-hop, indie pop, and even a 36 member choir for the finale. There was also a very moving Welcome to Country by Whadjuk man Vaughn McGuire. It was just an amazing night for everyone, and really brought the community together!
Follow these amazing musicians (or even better, book them for your next event): The Western Suntones, Boox Kid, Ini Ojo, Artfool, Mia June, Otiuh, Glimmer, Gap Year, Didion’s Bible, The Menagerie Choir
The Northbridge Treasure Trail, in partnership with City of Perth, was a great opportunity to spotlight the diversity of boutique shops in Northbridge in December 2023. Organised with the help of Claire Trolio (RuckRover General Store), this initiative focused on increasing awareness of the unique daytime shopping available on Williams Street that is often overlooked. Northbridge, mistakenly most well-know for it’s nightlife, has a distinctive collection of great shops. Participants were given a map and a punch card- to visit 8 stores on the trail (where they collected free holiday themed greeting cards) and once completed, received a complimentary gelato. It was also a chance for the local DJ school (Larry D DJ Degree) students to showcase their talents! The greeting cards were commissioned by up and coming local artists including: First Nations artist Aaliyah Henwood, Isabella Trolio, and Gabby Ortiz.
Participating Stores: Ruck Rover General Store, Safari Record Shack, Beautiful Flowers by Stacey, Candy Verse, Retro 66 Fashion, Planet Books, Chachi Store, and Cuccini Gelato.
Spring Bring was a sustainability initiative that saw neighbours and local business owners take part in a fun family and pet friendly event at Robertson Park (City of Vincent) in November of 2022. It was catered by local restaurateur, Dwight from Peasants Paradice, and Nowhereman Brewery provided in-kind support of their delicious brews. It included lawn games and a household goods swap meet. We also invited Peg, a local waste educator that showed us how we can make simple changes at home to reduce waste. It was a great opportunity to meet new people and build our community. If you would like to learn more about Peg, please check out her website, Lessons with Peg.
Our Portraits of the Past initiative was a long-term project that included not only a guided walking tour, but also a self-guided greeting card trail. We partnered with 11 local business where greeting cards were available that featured a historic POI and a short feature, as can be seen below from Hyde Park. We had a wonderful researcher who compiled the information from these POIs. These were accompanied by old photos provided by the State Library as well as from other keen local historians. Our volunteers than ran 4 guided walking tours. It was a great way to Celebrate the rich historical heritage of Northbridge (City of Vincent), while also activating local owner/operated businesses. These were held in conjunction with the April Heritage Festival in 2023.
Business who hosted greeting cards: Miller and Baker, BOOtoo, Vetrina Cafe, Khanom Thai, Freddie Strudels, Get Ya Fix, William Top, 399 Bar, People’s Cafeteria, Thanh Dhat, The Moon