As told by one of our long serving members – Carol
It is 20 years this year since I became involved in Mannum Progress Association and at that time there were 2 entities – Mannum Promotions and Mannum Progress Assoc. but the Dates of either starting or finishing I do not know. When I joined we rented premises at 44 Randell St., as our office and all meetings were held there and our Secretary spent most of his time there – available for any one interested.
I do know that many years ago when my father was a Mannum businessman he was in a group called Mannum Chamber of Commerce (not to be confused with the Junior Chamber of Commerce) and I believe that Mannum Promotions and Mannum Progress were follow “ons” from this.
Their purpose was to promote Mannum and make it more attractive for tourists.
They didn’t seem to hold events to entice visitors but I do remember one of the members being excited when new street lights for the main street were to be erected – wonder how many visitors that attracted!!!
In 2000 the first Christmas pageant was a big event. It was held and that led on to the huge Parade and Street party that we all knew until COVID 19 prevented this.
In the early 2000’s we began holding more fund raising events and held several festivals on the Mary Ann reserve and in 2006 held a huge event to mark 50 Years of the flood – our celebrations were a week long. We had an event every day for a week and a great display of photos were set up in the Mannum Rowing Club – it became like a Mannum Anniversary and so many people who had seen the ’56 flood events came to reminisce.
I myself was on the committee for the overall organising of the events the length of the Murray. A book called “Where were you when the Waters Broke” and a lot of Mannum residents contributed with articles for this book.
In latter years our 3 main fund raisers were the Truck and Ute Show in June, Craft Fair in August and Christmas Parade and street party In December. These were events that the committee of the time enjoyed organising and it helped us reach out to the wider community for support. We had a very comprehensive list of helpers who were happy to volunteer but didn’t want to attend meetings.
Our relationship with business houses was excellent as wherever possible we used them for our events.
I had a great 20 years of working for Mannum Progress Assoc.