Festival of Small Halls’ visit to refurbished Kendenup Town Hall “perfect launching pad”, says committee

The chair of the Kendenup Town Hall committee says an upcoming folk music festival is the “perfect launching pad” to celebrate and raise awareness of the integrity of town halls to rural communities. Dave Williams is one of many passionate locals who spearheaded the campaign to restore Kendenup’s beloved 90-year-old hall after it failed to pass a safety audit in 2023 and was forced to close. Though it re-opened in October last year after repairs, resuming its role hosting the Kendenup Markets and Kendenup Produce Exchange as well as various health and art workshops, Mr Williams said more work needed to be done. He said Woodfordia’s Festival of Small Halls, which will make its stop at the Kendenup Town Hall on August 24, is the perfect opportunity to raise interest in the community. “As a town hall committee, we’re using this event to try and raise exposure to the hall because there is work that needs doing on the hall that’s going to need a bit of community input,” he said. “We don’t currently have a kitchen, we need to fix the plumbing, sort out the window latches and keep up with general maintenance. “We’re sort of using the festival as a launching pad to try and raise awareness of our great hall, so that along with events like the Wild Gravel Race which turns around on Hassell Avenue right where the hall is, the Down South Markets and other things later this year, we can show the potential for the hall and get people involved. “There was a sizeable amount of time and effort that went into refurbing the hall so this is an ideal times for people to come down and use the hall for a community meeting place.” The folk festival will see Bridgetown-born songwriter Emily Barker and Canadian blues singer Charlie A’Court visit and perform in 17 regional town halls including Lake Grace Shire Hall, Wellstead Hall, Borden Pavilion, Corrigin’s Bylee Town Hall and Tambellup Hall. A’Court, who grew up in the rugged thickets of rural Nova Scotia, said he could relate to the need of a hub in a place where “neighbours could be kilometres apart”. “Growing up in deep country, I have a soft pot for being able to tour to rural or regional towns and villages where music and storytelling is a part of their tapestry,” he said. “Small Halls understands how vital it is to be connecting with smaller communities through music.” Owned by the Shire of Plantagenet, the Kendenup Town Hall is the only one of the town’s heritage buildings still in public hands. The KTH committee hopes to take on the lease to look after it in the future and fundraise to finish the refurbishments. “This represents a really good story of shire and community getting to work on something together,” Mr Williams said. “We’re just looking now at how we can improve the building to make it more comfortable and accessible to use at a minimal cost. “We’ve been overwhelmed and so grateful for the community and shire support shown, with lots of new and older members of the community putting their hands up to help and make this a community meeting place again. “A lot of people might be tucked a little bit out of town so you don’t have that interaction that once there was and that’s what a town hall should be — a place to get together, meet each other, the centre of a town. “So as long as people keep coming to these events and can see how important they are, we can keep our hall as the important place it is.” The Festival of Small Halls will run from August 6-30 with tickets available at www.festivalofsmallhalls.com