SEE the silos.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
That's the message Parade received loud and clear when his parents pulled back into their Bathurst driveway last weekend after a road trip that took them through northern and western Victoria and southern NSW.
Though they enjoyed plenty of interesting sights, the highlight for them was the Silo Art Trail spread across the flat, often featureless Wimmera.
Never heard of it? Let Parade explain.
Towering silos in tiny communities have been used as canvases by talented artists and the trail provides a suggested route to see them all over a couple of hours or so.
Parade's parents said the silos ranged from spectacular to jaw-dropping - made all the more impressive by the fact they loom over such small settlements.
And there has been a tourism effect. Parade's parents said they saw souvenirs for sale at one of the sites and spoke to a hotelier at another of the locations who said his pub had benefited from the people joining the trail.
It made Parade think about the painted silos in Bathurst's own regional backyard - and whether they are as well-known as they deserve to be.
Artist Guido van Helten - who painted one of the silos on the trail in Victoria, at Brim - painted a mural on the old cement works at Portland, between Bathurst and Lithgow, last year.
But do enough people know about it? Parade isn't sure.
IN NEWS AROUND BATHURST:
Maybe start your day at The End?
ON the subject of small places and tourism, Parade would like to give a plug for this weekend's The End Festival at Hill End.
Over Saturday and Sunday, Parade is told there will be music, food, craftspeople showing off their work and even a talent quest in the village.
Parade doesn't know whether it's the artistic history or the ghost town vibe or simply the sense of space, but he reckons Hill End has a unique atmosphere.
Visit www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/events/the-end-festival-2019 to find out more.
And consider going for a drive.
