First bushfires, then the lockdowns and closed borders associated with COVID-19, the Far South Coast tourism industry has had its challenges in recent years.
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News that Eurobodalla Shire Council had been given money to encourage events inspired Sally Bouckley, who owns Southbound Escapes, a bicycle hire and tour company in Narooma, to create an event that had something for everyone.
"I applied for a grant to boost overnight visitors in the off-peak period," said Ms Bouckley.
The inaugural Narooma Winter Night Markets Festival was born.
She wanted to ensure the event had a large Aboriginal element "because often people don't know about the strong culture down here".
That reflects Ms Bouckley's own experience.
"I was coming here for holidays for 20 years and never appreciated the deep Yuin culture until I moved here."
Since then, Ms Bouckley has formed relationships with several Yuin community groups and Southbound Escapes offers a number of First Nation experiences.
This made it straightforward getting buy-in from a wide range of First Nations performers and knowledge holders to share their culture at the festival.
What Ms Bouckley lacked however was experience executing such an ambitious event.
"I put a notice on the community board for help managing the event," she said.
"The A-team has come out of the woodwork with these incredible skills sets and experience in event management."
All the people supporting Ms Bouckley are local to Narooma and surrounds.
From Ms Bouckley's perspective, the ESC's grants to help the local tourism industry recover have been a success.
"Having a tourism business, we can see visitors are coming back so this is doing what it is supposed to be doing - attracting people to the region."
She hoped the Winter Night Markets Festival will become an annual event and will happily pass on the knowledge she has gained from bringing the first one to life.
The Narooma Winter Night Markets Festival is on this Saturday, July 2.
General entry costs $25, and VIP entry, with ticketed seating in a heated tent and luxury extras, costs $95. Entry is free for children aged under 16.
The full festival program can be found at www.naroomanightmarkets.com.au.