We’re super excited to let you know that we will be holding our annual Christmas Makers Market this year.

If you are a local maker and you’d like to book a stall you can do so on our website. Click here. They cost $20.

If you are a local shopper … COME ALONG!

This will be an outside event on the corner, in the garden and along the footpath at ACC. It will include the stalls (of course) along with a community BBQ and some lovely Christmassy craft activities for kids and their adults.

Put the date in your diary.

So … last week we started contemplating making a community Christmas tree. I know, a minute ago (and yet also a lifetime ago) it was March, and now it’s nearly December. It’s a pretty weird time-vortex type year … but there you go.

And here’s where we got to on the Christmas tree front - lots of exciting Pinterest pins … and some cutting. Can you tell which tree we’re thinking about making from the Pinterest inspo? Not an exact replica of course … we’ll be adding out own touches.

From Thursday this week we’ll have the community art bin out again, with triangles and sharpies and instructions. So you can pop past and collect a piece and add your two bobs to the project. Because the more the merrier (Christmas) right?

After a loooong year we’re looking forward to sharing community Christmas wishes and happy holiday vibes …

If like my family you are losing track of your face masks through the week as you wash them; you can top up your supply with some new ones from the ACC!

Lovely volunteers have made some great face masks from beautiful fabrics and they are for sale at our front door.

Stop by anytime when we are open and pick a few up for $10 each.

As David Bowie says, there are lots of ‘ch-ch-ch-ch-changes’ going on at ACC at the minute. Are you getting sick of posts about all the busy things happening? Sorry! We’ve got loads of projects that have been building up this year and we’re now 110% on the job and getting them going. Particularly our outside ones …

As previously flagged, earlier this year we were the happy recipients of a Yarra Valley Water grant, and we have a plumber who will be spending 3 days on site in the first week of December upgrading taps and toilets and making us as water efficient as possible … along with installing a water tank with pump and hose for our community garden.

The tank will sit against the back wall of the community shed. In preparation we’ve had Lily and Matilda working hard to empty and move the metal garden beds - I am sure they will be feeling fit and strong after all that shovelling! And today (Thursday) we’ll have Mark on site to start preparations to pour the slab for the tank. The pour will happen tomorrow.

Exciting times. And then there has been progress on the outdoor kitchen of course. Installation started last Friday, and Kalimna did some hard-painting-yards over the weekend (it is being finished in painted marine ply to ensure it is robust to the elements and to match in colour-wise with the mural and shed). Yesterday all the framing was completed and now we are just awaiting the stone benchtop - which has been measured up and ordered. We’ve got our fingers crossed that this will happen by the end of next week … ready for our first morning tea on the corner!

Hooray.

We’re hoping to have ‘Blind date with a Book’ back out on the street today (Friday).

On Station Street the lovely folks at Three Locals have volunteered to house the stand for us, so it will be out the front of their cafe once a week.

And … Lee has also made a second stand for ACC.

We’ve been super keen to get ‘Blind date with a Book’ back up and running as it only had one week of glory before we went into lockdown … and there was lots of public interest in it.

This project has come about through a grant from Darebin Council and is a partnership with Darebin Libraries. The broader goal is to help activate our streets and public places and make them feel neighbourhoodly and friendly, arty and interesting. If you are out and about, keep an eye out!