Yesterday we participated in the second instalment of the annual Girl to Woman Festival in Lennox Head. It was great to see the deeper engagement from last year, and notice that many more people stayed at the festival for longer periods throughout the day. Knowing the importance of this Festival’s message in our community, I invited the Mayor of Ballina David Wright as my guest, he came for over an hour in the morning and then wanted to return again in the afternoon. Three local businesses my wife and I are involved in catered the food for the event and it was a complete success.
We often tend to gauge business and other things on money and numbers, while this year there was something else that was an equal if not larger part - the true community feel to everything surrounding the Girl to Woman Festival. We didn’t bring in a bunch of people from our businesses to just do the food for profit or self-promotion, we brought people together and then we produced food to be a part of the festival.
This was the difference for us, it was a people first festival in everyway and truly a marker for the community.
The festival really was for us all, and as was discussed in the ‘Ask Dad’ group at the end of the day…
We often tend to gauge business and other things on money and numbers, while this year there was something else that was an equal if not larger part - the true community feel to everything surrounding the Girl to Woman Festival. We didn’t bring in a bunch of people from our businesses to just do the food for profit or self-promotion, we brought people together and then we produced food to be a part of the festival.
This was the difference for us, it was a people first festival in everyway and truly a marker for the community.
The festival really was for us all, and as was discussed in the ‘Ask Dad’ group at the end of the day…
‘It’s not only about the relationship between father and daughter that is important, it’s all relationships. How you are with all women is in that relationship, in fact, it is how you are with everyone.’
Our locally run businesses of The Belle General, Nourish and the Belle General Bakehouse are about people first, and this was for us how the planning started, knowing that how ever we were with everyone in organising the food would be there in how we were with everyone at the festival.
We are keen to support community initiatives like these and will be back next year with the same quality as has been before.
Ray Karam and Sarah Baldwin
The Belle General, Nourish and the Belle General Bakehouse
We are keen to support community initiatives like these and will be back next year with the same quality as has been before.
Ray Karam and Sarah Baldwin
The Belle General, Nourish and the Belle General Bakehouse
