Offical Opening Of Big Sky Stories
The long anticipated official opening of Big Sky Stories happened on Saturday 17 September 2022 at 2.30pm – and what a wonderful day it was!
Big Sky Stories inside and outside never looked better: the extensive selection of picture, chapter and teacher reference books arranged invitingly on shelves around One More Page Book Emporium; the creative macramé pieces from Tie the Knot including plant hangers in every corner, rainbows of every colour, artistic hanging pieces and one in-progress community weaving project; and, the larger than life size colourful models of birds, bugs and flowers on the walls, all added to the atmosphere of creativity and colour.
The usual peacefulness and tranquillity mentioned by many who have visited Big Sky Stories were still present but today mingled with a hubbub of busy noise and activity as children and young people engaged in a range of fun activities and workshops. These included face painting, designing and making bookmarks using scratchboards and fashioning a macrame flower. David Smith, Sydney-based singer, songwriter and guitarist provided a song-writing workshop for 16 young people and some parents. They worked with parodies using their favourite songs to produce their own lyrics. David commented: ‘What the young people achieved in just two hours was amazing and shows what can happen when you allow your imagination to take over.’ The final workshop gave participants an opportunity to explore primary and secondary warm and cold colours using chalk. By using a type of 3D glasses facilitator Gary Cook helped the participants see how the warm colours appeared to ‘rise up’ while the cool colours did not.
The formal launch occurred at 2.30pm with more than 50 people in attendance welcomed to country by Taunoa Bugmy. Taunoa commented on the peaceful atmosphere of the Big Sky Stories space. Indiah Clark, her cousin, provided the Welcome in language.
Co-founders and directors Jane Vaughan and Nicky Wright also gave a warm welcome to everyone. Nicky shared the importance of humans being rather than doing and commented that Big Sky Stories is a place where you can just ‘be’. Robyn Ewing AM spoke about how essential it is for every child to enjoy access to stories and books at home. The research demonstrates that children who own books and can choose what they read are more likely to experience success in learning. At Big Sky Stories there is provision when buying a book to ‘Pay it Forward’ so that every child can have the pleasure of a book. Jane shared the many and varied events that had happened at Big Sky Stories over the previous 8 weeks and thanked everyone for their enthusiasm and support. The formalities concluded with David Smith singing a song he wrote about Big Sky Stories and lots of lively discussion over afternoon tea.
All in all, it was a fun day of joy and celebration for the community.
David Smith
