Centralian Advocate, Friday, June 21, 2013 — 9

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NEWS

Vibrant, quirky character enviedALICE Springs has beenthe envy of country townsacross the country at a nat-ional assembly in Canberrathis week.

Mayor Damien Ryan saidlocal government leaderswere absolutely stunned theEnglish Cricket team hadselected the tiny Outbacktown as the venue for amatch later this year.

‘‘They said, how did we do

it? We do get a lot of wonder-ful things,’’ Mr Ryan saidfrom the National GeneralAssembly of Local Govern-ment conference.

‘‘I am regularly asked,‘how does your town get somany events’?’’

Mr Ryan said the vibrantatmosphere in Alice Springsas it entered its eventsseason could hardly be de-scribed as ‘‘a little bit sad’’.

‘‘I would think that ourtown is the capital of quirk,really,’’ Mr Ryan said.

He said the town lookedforward to events plannedfor the official opening ofthe northern section of theTodd Mall in July.

Minister for Central Aust-ralia Matt Conlan describedthe town he called home as‘‘King of the Outback’’.

He said the vibrant and

cosmopolitan town had abright future and was a veryimportant tourism desti-nation for the Territory.

‘‘It is the gateway toUluru, which is recognisedas one of the great icons ofthe world and there is noth-ing sad about that,’’ he said.

Former NT Australian ofthe Year Dr John Boffa saidAlice Springs was a greatplace to live and have inter-

esting conversations withpeople. He said the town hadone of the highest numberof people per capita holdinguniversity degrees.

Dr Boffa said extremepoverty on the streets wasconfronting but madepeople face an importantsocial issue.

Folk musician Ted Egansaid he chose to live in AliceSprings because it had so

many diverse and wonder-ful cultures, perfect weatherand interesting characters.

In a statement, LonelyPlanet said it hoped its com-ments about Alice Springswould spur on local author-ities to make improvements.

‘‘If so, next time we visitwe’ll notice. Not every placeis a good tourist destination,even if it makes a greathome,’’ the statement said.

It’sour

Alice

Damien Ryan

‘‘Our town isthe capital of

quirky, really.’’

Matt Conlan

‘‘The town hasa great, relaxed

lifestyle,friendly peopleand I believe itis the King of

the Outback.’’

Ted Egan

‘‘It’s the diverseand wonderfulcultures, it’sthe perfect

weather, it’s theinteresting

characters thatmake AliceSprings the

great centre ofAustralia.’’

Plenty to be proud about10 thingsto loveabout Alice

What makesus special

How you canstick it toLonely Planet

1. Stunning scenery

2. First class tours

3. Broad accommodation range

4. Unique events

5. Unrivalled arts

6. Cultural diversity

7. Enterprising businesses

8. Community values

9. Outstanding service centre

10. OUR PEOPLE

n Alice Springs Beanie Festival - June 21

The Alice Springs Beanie Festival is a

community-based event that began in 1997.

Since then every year the competition attracts

over 6000 handmade beanies from around

the world.n Alice Springs Annual Show - July 5-6This year marks the 54th annual Alice SpringsShow since it started in 1960, and sees morethan 18,000 people visit over the two days.n Lasseters Camel Cup - July 13Alice Springs Lasseters Camel Cup is aniconic and quirky race, with a reputationwhich reaches far beyond Northern Territorysoil. First run in 1970, the race attracts morethan 5000 people from across the world.Old Timers Village Annual Fete - August 10This annual popular event is the largest fetein Alice Springs and attracts around 2000local and interstate visitors. Held on thegrounds of the retirement village, this fund-raising event for Old Timers is well supportedby volunteers from local service clubs, churchgroups and community organisations.Henley-On-Todd - August 17This unique, madcap event is full of fun andmayhem, where teams and individuals raceboats in the dry river bed of the Todd River.This year marks the 52nd year the event hasbeen running, and now sees more than 4000spectators.n Alice Springs Town Council Night Mar-kets - August 22, September 12, October17, November 14The Todd Mall brights up the night four timesa year, selling authentic indigenous art andcraftworks, recycled treasures, books,

photos, handmade clothing and jewellery.Themarkets first began in 2006, and have been apopular outing for the entire family.n Mbantua Festival - October 9-13This year marks the first year of the worldclass Indigenous Cultural Festival, which willcelebrate Central Australian Aboriginal cul-ture, heritage and arts. The event will alsopromote desert living cultures, innovation andsustainability, and is expected to see any-where between 10,000 to 15,000 people overthe four days.n Alice Desert Festival - September 11-15The premier event showcases the arts andculture of Central Australia, and includes art,performance and music, and is one of AliceSprings largest festivals.n Sitzler Symphony Under The Stars -October 20The Darwin Symphony Orchestra returns toAlice Springs for an outdoor spectacularperformance.n England vs Chairmans XI - November29-30The Chairman’s XI will play England atTraeger Park in a tour match after the firstAshes Test, and will bring with it up to 7000Barmy Army supporters.n Alice Springs Town Council ChristmasCarnival - December 13For a true blue Aussie outback Christmasexperience, one can’t go past the ASTC

Christmas Carnival. The event is free and funfor the whole community, with activities, kidsfun, market stalls and live entertainment.

Send your message to Lonely Planet at thefollowing addresses:

n Twitter: @lonelyplanet

n Facebook: Lonely Planet

n Website:http://www.lonelyplanet.com/

ionic

n Lonely Planet Asia-Pacific:

90 Maribyrnong Street

Footscray

VIC 3011

n Lonely Planet UK:

Media Centre

201 Wood Lane

London

W12 7TQ

Tourism Central Australia boss Jaclyn Thorne at the entrance to the Todd MallPicture: JUSTIN BRIERTY

CBD inline forfaceliftHEAD of Tourism Cen-tral Australia JaclynThorne says commun-ity groups are workinghard to reinvigorate Al-ice Springs’ CBD.

Ms Thorne said thetown now had the op-portunity to work onsending out a positivemessage about the townfor the next LonelyPlanet edition in twoyears time.

‘‘(It is unfortunate)when things go to printin a hard copy of a bookthat people do keep asyou said,’’ Ms Thornesaid. ‘‘The good thing is,though, this particularbook gets releasedevery two years.’’

She said she was dis-appointed to read theflat words writtenabout Alice Springs,describing its towncentre as ‘‘a little sad’’,in the travel guide’slatest edition on Cen-tral Australia.

But she said relocat-ing the town’s VisitorInformation Centre tothe Todd Mall and in-

vesting $4.6 million inupgrading its northernsection was bringinglife into the CBD.

She said these newadditions in the mallprobably came to thefore after the term ofthe Lonely Planet jour-nalist’s stay, whichhappened about 12months ago.

Ms Thorne sai dtraders were also work-ing with the Chamberof Commerce to brain-storm other ways to re-vitalise the mall.

She said ideas in-cluded pop-up shops,night activities in themall, more lighting anda proposal to createresidential develop-ment in the centre ofthe mall.

‘‘I think we’re allaware of the situation,’’she said.

‘‘All we can keepdoing is putting thepositive image outthere, working reallyhard and Tourism NTare working really hardon the marketing.’’