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The August Member Mingle & BA5 was a fantastic event held in collaboration with Busselton Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the vibrant Origins Market.

A large cohort of MRBTA members and the BCCI business community gathered at Origins Market, beginning the evening with guided tours of the venue and mingling at the Homestead Tavern.

Origins staff and vendors were so welcoming and there was a happy vibe with cool tunes played by local muso Padderick Henry. Guests were invited to enjoy refreshments from the full beverage menu at the Tavern including a special non-alcoholic mocktail created for the event!  Food vendors showcased their incredibly delicious offerings throughout the evening.

Pip Close, General Manager of Origins Market, gave insight into the original vision of the market as a key venue for both the local community as well as visitors to the region and thanked all that have been involved in bringing this to fruition. The market is now a bustling venue with a strong collective of vendors under one umbrella including street-style eateries, artisans, gourmet local food & beverage producers and farm-fresh produce. The importance of the location of the Market was highlighted by Pip, given its close proximity to the Busselton CBD and many other businesses starting up in the precinct. Aiming to continue to encourage local and tourism visitation to the venue, they have incorporated free shuttle buses over the weekends to hotels and regional landmarks, an incubator kitchen for commercial hire use and school holiday workshops including the fascinating in-house bee hive managed by UWA.  If you haven’t yet visited, we encourage you to pop in for a look!

Michael Brown President of BCCI, thanked everyone for attending and acknowledged the importance of these collaborative events, encouraging everyone to connect and introduce themselves during the evening. BCCI is currently taking applications for their Business Excellence Awards and Michael encouraged businesses to enter as they present such a great opportunity to identify the strengths and weaknesses within your business. Keep an eye out for other BCCI member events including their ‘Ask Me Anything’ sessions and networking lunches. Get in touch with the Chamber to find out more.

Sharna Kearney, CEO of MRBTA, also expressed her delight at working with our industry partners, BCCI, on this event noting the benefits of opportunities for business and tourism operators to connect and collaborate. Sharna shared a brief tourism update noting the welcome return of international, and interstate travellers and the Singapore market. Melbourne-Busselton flights have been filling up quickly which bodes well for potential future increases in frequency on that route and new routes. Having met with the new Tourism Minister and a range of commercial tourism operators from across the state on the day, Sharna concluded that MRBTA will continue to use these events and other feedback to stay attuned to what’s happening across the industry and share this with stakeholders to ensure the region is well represented.

MRBTA are thankful to be part of many homegrown events. Coming soon is CinefestOZ which is considered to be Australia’s premier destination film festival with over 270 events happening across the region between 23 – 28 August. Open Studios is also coming up and is the biggest event of its kind in Australia and hosting its biggest program ever with 168 artists and 43 new studios on board this year.

Thank you to all that attended and a huge thank you to the event’s hosts & sponsors:

Origins Market 

Busselton Chamber of Commerce