McLaren Vale Business & Tourism Association
Festive in the Piazza
Through out the festive season of 2024, The McLaren Vale Business & Tourism Association and McLaren Vale Primary School have continued their collaborative approach to building relationships in our local community. This year we encourage our school families and our local community to take a walk down the beautiful Main Street of McLaren Vale and shop locally, with the added bonus of taking the opportunity to admire the decorated trees in the Piazza lovingly created by our students.
Each class has joined together with another class (their “buddy class”) to create some wonderful decorations to hang on the gorgeous wooden pallet trees made for us by some lovely community members.
Working with a buddy class has been a really lovely way for the students to connect, strengthening relationships and building friendships.
The older children have enjoyed taking on a leadership role as the projects unfolded, while the younger children have continued to strengthen their peer relationships and build connections with others from different age groups.
All of the children’s work will be on display throughout the month of December in the Piazza, with the annual Christmas Parade organised by the McLaren Vale Business & Tourism Association being the perfect time for the community, including our school families to come together to enjoy.
Decorate the Main Road project:
During the early stages of 2022 the McLaren Vale Business Association and the McLaren Vale Primary School discussed a collaborative approach to beautifying the streetscape of Main Road McLaren Vale for the festive season.
The businesses agreed to link with the school community and allow them space for an installation that would decorate their offices or business spaces for the month of December.
The initiative was designed to not only make the street look gorgeous, but to encourage collaboration and build relationships within the community, while also encouraging families into the business to shop locally, with the added bonus of enjoying the decorations that children had made.
Each class, along with the Library at McLaren Vale Primary School selected several businesses that they wanted to work with and contacted them to discuss ideas around design/content/ space requirements and so on.
Some of the children were able to work together with the business owners to make their creations onsite together, others took the information back to their classes and worked together at school to complete their projects.
A big thank you to all of the children and teachers for their hard work pulling this together for such a special community project.
All of the children’s work was on display throughout the month of December at their selected businesses, with the annual Christmas Parade, organised by the McLaren Vale Business Association for December, being the perfect time for the community, including our school families who may have been involved to come together to enjoy. We continued involvement in this project again in 2023.
Main Road Christmas Parade
Each year the McLaren Vale Business & Tourism Association Christmas Parade makes Main Road come alive with dancers, bands, community spirit and beautifully decorated cars and trucks. The McLaren Vale Primary School community enjoy engaging in this event, with the children dressing in bright colours to bring a smile and some Christmas cheer to the 1500 spectators who line the streets. With kindness and gratitude always at the forefront of our minds, the children share positive messages with the community, handing out affirmation cards and lollipops with inspirational messages attached. What a wonderful way for us to finish off our school year and welcome in the festive season.