By Charlene Macaulay
Werribee’s pop-up park has drawn huge crowds to Station Place this summer.
Visitor numbers from Wyndham council reveal 30,851 people enjoyed the pop-up park between January 18 and February 24, with nearly 13,000 flocking to the park for the Australia Day program.
The pop-up park included more than 100 free events over its five-week run, including live music, movies, a rotating line-up of food trucks on Sunday afternoons, markets and weekday workshops and activities.
Wyndham council economy, innovation and liveability director Peter McKinnon said it was great to see so many locals embrace the park and its events and activities.
“One of the great aspects of the Friday Night Live series this year was the breadth of local talent, with Wyndham artists able to share the stage with some music icons,” he said.
“The new Wyndham Business and Tourism Association market also proved popular on Saturdays before the outdoor cinema sessions.”
Mr McKinnon said the council was analysing a visitor survey and would be chatting to surrounding businesses before deciding if the pop-up park would return next summer.
He said there were no plans to make the pop-up park a permanent installation.
Last year, a number of Station Place traders called for the park to be discontinued or relocated, saying the experiment had been bad for business by closing 22 carparks fronting their stores.
“As a result of this feedback from businesses, a number of changes were made to parking management during this year’s program, as well as programming additional activities during business hours,” Mr McKinnon said.
