Leura Village Fair will return this Spring after a two-year COVID hiatus. The 40th fair will once again fill the Mall with stalls, art and music on the second weekend of October.
Leura Village Association (LVA) vice-president Bruce Hart said the fair's return "has been welcomed enthusiastically by the local community and stall holders".
Mr Hart said the fair was key to the LVA's long-running contribution to the look of Leura.
"Leura Village Fair has been the LVA's main fundraiser for four decades, enabling its impressive legacy, including the village centre's iconic cherry trees and gardens."
Founding president of the LVA and former Wayzgoose Café owner, Mark Alchin, said: "The Leura Village Fair was our first initiative in 1981 after a small group of us with businesses in the Mall established the LVA that year."
He said the profits from the first fair funded the planting of the 19 Japanese flowering cherry trees along the median strip which he watered daily for six months.
"The Kanzan cultivar were selected by horticulturist Ib Sorensen, son of Paul, because they blossom in early October during the Leura Garden Festival and Fair which ran as a double act.
"The pink snow storms of blossoms drifting down the Mall are now one of the most shared images of spring in Leura and of the fair."
Mr Alchin said that, in the mid-80s, funds raised by the fair and from local businesses covered half the cost of the street paving and construction of garden beds on the eastern side of the Mall.
A part-time horticulturist has been employed ever since by the LVA for landscaping and maintenance of these public gardens. In the last three years she has been assisted by a band of LVA volunteers known as the GoLies (Gardeners of Leura).
Mr Hart said the mural in the walkway beside the Wayzgoose Café was another significant contribution of the LVA.
"I think the mural's view across a flowering garden to the Mountains is probably as photographed as the cherry trees, with the advantage that the flowers are always there."
The mural by Malcolm King was funded with a 1988 Bicentennial federal government grant to the LVA based on an application prepared by Mr Alchin.
In the early 2000s, the LVA contributed $20,000 of its fair earnings to assist council with the construction of new public toilets in the car park.
Mr Hart said the current LVA committee wants to preserve and build upon the legacy of Mr Alchin and other LVA presidents, committee members and volunteers over the last four decades.
The Leura Village Fair will run Saturday-Sunday October 8 and 9. The LVA is also looking for volunteers to help over the weekend for a few hours. For more information, see https://www.leuravillage.com.au.
