Blue Mountains News

The campaign aims to capitalise on the upsurge in Christmas-time spending by encouraging our community to spend locally this festive season, rather than shopping and holidaying out of the region.

Love Local this festival season will help boost the local economy after such a challenging year.

“As the unforgettable year of 2020 draws to a close, one thing that we can all be thankful for is the way that our community has supported, and continues to support, local businesses,” Mayor Mark Greenhill said.

“We’ve had an amazing response to our Love Local campaign this year because we have an amazing community, who rally around each other in times of need.”

Council launched the Love Local campaign in January following the bushfires, of course not knowing that global pandemic was soon to come. As COVID-19 restrictions were rolled out between April and July we highlighted all the ways that our community could continue to support local businesses.

Council’s Love Local this festival season campaign is a way of acknowledging community support and saying ‘thank you’.

The visual presence of the campaign has been created by Meeri Anneli, a Glenbrook-based textile designer and illustrator, whose stunning designs have been used to create flagpole banners, posters, postcards and greeting cards which are being displayed in shops and in public areas throughout the Blue Mountains.

Meeri describes herself as a 'new naturalist', as her work is heavily influenced by the surrounding flora and fauna of the natural world. With Finnish heritage, it was time spent living and studying in Helsinki that saw the emergence of Merri’s love for pattern and design.

Defining her work as being "Scandi-Australiana", Meeri said: “Illustrating and designing these festive banners was a unique project, which was fun to be involved with”. She hopes that they will bring some cheerfulness to our town centres during our 2020 festive season.

To support local designers and makers like Meeri, Council-run facilities such as Visitor Information Centres at Glenbrook and Echo Point and the Blue Mountains Culture Centre will be stocking and selling a wide range of MTNS MADE merchandise in the lead up to Christmas.