The Highland Gathering has been a fixture of the City of Armadale’s calendar for decades, with thousands descending on Minnawarra Park each year for the hallmark event.
But with Metronet carving up chunks of the centre of town for the Byford Rail Extension, the 2024 Highland Gathering and Perth Kilt Run are being turfed out of the CBD.
Instead, this year’s event will be hosted at the Champion Lakes Regatta Centre.
A number of other locations were considered: John Dunn Reserve, Bob Blackburn Reserve, Gwynne Park, Rushton Park, Novelli Reserve, Harrisdale Pavilion and Skeet Park.
But Champion Lakes was the only locale that every stakeholder group could agree on, and the only venue capable of hosting fireworks.
There are major logistical issues to overcome ahead of the event in October.
The biggest is the whopping big lake in the middle of the space – a risk the City of Armadale is taking very seriously.
They have proposed to employ lifeguards to monitor for people entering the water, and instal signage around the area stating swimming is not permitted.
Children’s activities will be kept well away from the lake.
And the city is considering extending an invitation to organisations like Royal Lifesaving WA to be involved in the event to further promote safety messages.
A lack of shade trees could also be a problem if the October event falls on a particularly hot day. So, the city is preparing to instal more shade structures.
They’ll also be rolling out shuttle buses to ferry people the comparatively farther distance from the car park to the event space.
In good news, however, the logistics for the Perth Kilt Run would appear to be a lot simpler, without the usual necessary road closures.
