Welcome to town

A MALENY Chamber of Commerce breakfast last week revealed the potential for a change to signage coming into the hinterland, along with the future of the town's information centre.

Maleny Chamber of Commerce president Nathan Arrowsmith said a sub-committee had been formed to look at upgrading the Maleny entry signs.

Six signs had been identified as requiring an upgrade, with the suggestion that a local artist could come on board to make the signage as creative and eye- catching as possible.

Maleny Visitor Information Centre director Bryan Hughes also spoke about the centre's upcoming lease with Maleny Community Centre, upon its relaunch in December.

Mr Hughes said the centre would face increasing costs and the need for more volunteers with the new occupancy.

"Our biggest challenge is meeting significantly higher costs for fit-out costs and money for rent," he said.

"Council has been granting us $5000 a year and we won't be losing that for another two years at least.

"We're in negotiations with Sunshine Coast Destination to see if they can help with the other costs we need to cover."

Mr Hughes said the hinterland area could expect to see a few changes with the opening of the new information centre.

"We're moving into merchandising, which is looking reasonable at the moment," he said.

"We'll also be going into a fee- for-service idea, where businesses who feature in the centre donate an annual fee."

Currently a kiosk is being used as a means of providing information for visitors, next to the building site of the Maleny Community Centre.

State member for Glass House Andrew Powell also spoke at the breakfast meeting.

He said he was doing all he could to help lower living costs for the Maleny community.

So far Mr Powell and the State Government had regulated a freeze on family car registration, demolished land stamp duty costs and repealed the waste levy to help businesses.

Other guests at the meeting included Janna Pameijer from Arts Connect who provided an update on the Open Studios initiative, which will see studios across the Hinterland opened to the public over four weeks starting in September.

The Maleny Chamber of Commerce breakfast was held at Maudy's last Tuesday, with the next meeting due on September 11 at the House of Laurels.