Docklands events in December

By Shane Wylie

We’ve been allowed to plan for our first events since COVID struck us all into lockdown.

We’ve organised a plethora of entertainment for the Docklands Christmas Markets on Sunday December 6 starting at 12pm and continuing all the way through until 8pm.

Santa will be making appearances all day and the Docklands Choir will be singing their Christmas favourites from 3pm to 4pm. We’ve sourced some of the busking talent currently performing along NewQuay Promenade and they will be entertaining the eastern end of the promenade (city side) from 4pm. We’ve also brought in the very talented DJ Perri Lee and vocalist Alex Rose to entertain from Cargo restaurant from 4pm until the markets close.

This will be followed up the week after with Christmas Chocolate Workshops with Kep Whitley. Partnered by us and the City of Melbourne, Kep will be hosting six workshops in total with two being for the kids and four for the adults. All participants will be able to take their creations home and if you want to see how talented she is, head to Instagram @kepwhitley for some of her creations.

It’s free to register for this opportunity and the best way is to head to our Facebook – fb.me/melbdock for the event details and link. The draw will be held on December 7 and the workshop will be covered in our socials on the December 14, 15 and 16.

Leading the way in events and activations have been the hard-working crew at The District Docklands as well. In late November we saw entertainers throughout the entire centre to welcome in Black Friday sales and then the gorgeous District Doggo Market on the Sunday. Head to our Instagram for some of the images – instagram.com/docklandsmelb

Our focus over the holiday period

One thing has become very clear to me coming out of restrictions and that is the world has changed forever. In line with this we’re going to be focusing our efforts in the next two months on profiling every single one of our member businesses and just what they are doing post restrictions. Last year our social media reached in excess of 10 million views. It’s an asset we have invested in with time, money and staffing and we’re going to put it to our members advantage even more than normal.

We’ve also just redesigned our website to be more reflective of what is happening as of right now.

So, if you’d like to take advantage of our socials and our website to ramp up your business exposure – docklandscc.com.au – then the already minimal annual fee is being waived until February.

Docklands Chamber of Commerce annual general meeting (AGM)

The Docklands Chamber of Commerce AGM was held at last on November 12 via Zoom. Financials are posted on our website for 2019/20 detailing a loss for the financial year due to a heavy investment in profiling the case for permanent activation of Victoria Harbour and hosting the very first Docklands Business Awards. The executive committee now consists of:

Johanna Maxwell - returned unanimously as president

Daniel Hibberd - returned unanimously as vice president

Mo Hamdouna - returned unanimously as secretary

Glenda Archibald - returned unanimously as treasurer

Ahmad Trad – returned

Peter Kelly – returned

Wei Xiong - new member (Sebel Docklands)

Mark Scholem - new member (New Energy Physiotherapy)

Vanessa Muggianu - new member (Berth Restaurant and Events)

I’d like to personally thank our outgoing executives - Stacy Andronikos, Nicole Hill, Mark Sutherland and Athol Hodgetts.

And on that final note, have a safe festive period everyone. Look after your locals and share a smile when your mask comes off.