Lynne Mowbray

River Street in Maclean’s CBD came to life on Friday evening for the inaugural running of The Enchanted Christmas Fair.

The closure of River Street enabled stalls and food trucks to set up in the middle of the street and retail shops stayed open late, to cater for those attending the event.

The Enchanted Christmas Fair was run by the Maclean District Business Chamber, to breath life and Christmas cheer to the community.

Retail outlets were encouraged to dress up their windows with Christmas displays and lights, as were households, to light up for a chance to win the best Christmas light display, with the winners announced on the night.

Maclean District Business Chamber president Sarah and her team worked hard behind the scenes to bring the town alive, in the lead up to Christmas.

“Everybody had a great time, and it was lovely to see Maclean vibrant and alive,” said Sarah.

“There was a fantastic and cheerful vibe – our community at its best.

It’s been long time coming and everyone was very excited that events had returned to Maclean. It was really lovely to see our ‘River Town’ all lit up, with lots of cheer.

We can’t wait for our dedicated riverfront precinct to fully embrace the beauty of where we live, in the heart of Clarence Valley.

It was wonderful to see the older generations and young families in McLachlan Park enjoying the atmosphere and everything that was going on.

The Maclean Music Academy and co. put on the performance of the year, with the enthusiasm from the Cubby Kids, being very well received.

There was a great variety of stallholders and food vendors, and Santa’s visit was a great success, as he was swarmed by all the kids.

I have to say a massive thank you to all the volunteers who gave their time to help ‘enchant’ Maclean, for Christmas. It took over six months of work in the planning, but it was well worth it in the end.

I’d like to encourage those within our community to consider volunteering, so we can keep the momentum up and create another event for next year.

A big thanks to Council and their road crew. It wasn’t an easy job to close the street and keep it shut, so we appreciate their assistance. A massive thanks also to the State Government, Transport for NSW, and Clarence Valley Council.

We have received lots of quotes and posts on Facebook too!

Everyone seemed to be very impressed and thoroughly enjoyed themselves!

So, it was a great outcome,” she said.

Richies IGA Maclean store manager Matt Saunders said that he’d like to congratulate the Maclean Chamber, for putting on an excellent event.

“We’re proud to sponsor such a great prize (in the mega raffle items) to help out the community,” he said.

“Thanks to all the other retailers that were able to contribute prizes as well.

“There has been excellent support from the community and I’m very happy to be a part of it,” he said.