Families will be able to welcome 2010 in grand style as Central Goldfields Shire hosts its annual celebrations in front of the Maryborough Post Office.

Take-pART Arts Alliance has been granted $5000 from the Federal Governments Regional Arts Fund to tell the story of the social dances at the Tren du Bourg (Workers) Hall.

The grant will also include a celebration of that history with a new piece of music and a film of the hall’s dance history and couples who met there.

The Maryborough Highland Gathering’s athletic events have attracted record numbers this year, with almost 700 athletes registering for 14 events.

Six hundred and ninety-one runners will take to the track on Maryborough’s Princes Park on Friday across a range of distances.

A fire which caused an estimated $35,000 damage forced the closure of the Carisbrook-Eddington Road last Wednesday.

A truck carrying a load of lucerne ignited the blaze after some of the load came into contact with the truck’s upright exhaust shortly before 3 pm.

The driver of the truck and another employee of the company it belonged to attempted to extinguish the fire, but their efforts were to no avail as the blaze took hold, spreading to a nearby patch of grass and sending smoke billowing across the road.

For the full story, see the current edition of The Maryborough Advertiser.

Five time world championship cyclist, Danny Clark, will compete at the Maryborough velodrome on Monday, December 28 as part of the annual Central Goldfields Christmas Cycling Carnival track series.

Clark, one of the world’s greatest cyclists, is now 58 years of age and resides in Queensland, but still competes.

Maryborough will compete in division one of the Bendigo Bank Country Week Cricket competing for the Neil Pollock Memorial Shield.

Last year, Maryborough won the division two John Turner Memorial Shield and hopes to emulate that achievement.

The 149th Maryborough Highland Gathering street parade will be conducted in High

Street on New Year’s Day with Highland pipe bands, brass bands, a concert band and a jazz band to ensure a comprehensive musical opening to the gathering.

At 10 am the Maryborough Jazz Band will perform their popular renditions on the corner of the High and Tuaggra streets intersection at the traffic lights.

Princes Park and Pascoe Reserve have been declared Neighbourhood Safer Places for Maryborough residents in the event of a bushfire.

Central Goldfields Shire Council yesterday adopted Township Protection Plans (TPP) for Maryborough and Talbot, as well as declared Neighbourhood Safer Places (NSP) for both these areas.

The NSP for Talbot is Pioneer Reserve on the corner of Fyfe Street and Scandinavian Crescent.