The town in the heart of the Eyre Peninsula and halfway across Australia was announced as the Overall Winner of the 2017 Sustainable Communities Awards at the KESAB Awards Ceremony at the Adelaide Sailing Club on November 28 2017.
Sustainable Communities (or the old Tidy Towns program) is a focus for hundreds of regional communities to showcase positive actions taken by communities, schools, businesses and councils across SA to protect their local environment, enhance their towns, embrace sustainability and showcase their initiatives.
“Long-term sustainable practices are now entrenched in regional communities and the 2017 awards have again showcased the best examples,” said Program Manager, Alex Hammett. “Small, medium and large towns from across the state submitted entries into the Awards this year and the quality was high!”
“The program is all about people getting together to contribute to a better place to live, work and play, to create a place where visitors are delighted to come, and locals want to stay. At the same time it’s about protecting, conserving, managing and improving SA’s precious natural environment. Entering the awards is a way of recognising and acknowledging the hard work, long hours, bright ideas, passion, enthusiasm and spirit of regional South Australians and their communities,” Alex says.
Kimba’s entry included the Igniting Kimba arts project, which included the incredible Kimba Silo art, as well as the innovative Grey Nomad program, “The Thing about Kimba” – a shop local campaign and the Powerful Learners program at the Kimba Area School, encouraging students to think outside the box.
“Kimba’s entry embraced initiatives by the Kimba Community Development Group, Kimba District Council, Kimba Area School and many more community groups and local businesses – throughout their entry, the spirit and pride of the community was evident and it was clear that as a community they are really striving to foster a thriving local community, that not only supports the people who live in the Kimba district but also enhance the local environment and entice visitors to their local area,” said Alex. “All of this makes them a perfect example of a sustainable community!”
2017 Sustainable Communities Awards;
Best Small Town – Port Julia
Best Medium Town – Kimba
Highly Commended Medium Town – Berri
Best Large Town – Victor Harbor
Outstanding Community Project – Beltana Community Park, Beltana Progress Association
Outstanding Council Project – Elliston Coastal Trail, District Council of Elliston.