A new rainbow pavilion and a queer black mob mural are on the way to the Tropical Fruits clubhouse in South Lismore. 

The new installations are set to make Lismore’s diverse LGBTIQ+ social club into an ever bigger, vibrant community hub than it already is.

Tropical Fruits president Marie Reilly said the new infrastructure was thanks to two grants recently won by the club – one of which was a $9,000 Federal Government Stronger Communities Programme grant to build a new picnic shelter and additional art space at the clubhouse.

“We have a parcel of land next to the clubhouse that we will build the permanent, roofed structure on, and we have bought a nearby house too, so we can expand and make the dream happen,” Marie said.

“We have a big dream to make our clubhouse a community hub with more outdoor, all weather events held here.

 “Recently The Lesbian Caucus ran a women’s event ‘Women on the Green’ here and it was great.

“Our long term goal is to have a pizza oven and a fire circle too.”

Marie said the club also won a Healthy North Coast grant to create a ‘celebrating queer black mob’ mural at the clubhouse.

“We are collaborating with the Queer Black Fruits Indigenous advisory group and local Indigenous artists for that,” she said.

“We may create it as a free standing mural on the western side of the paddock and plant shade trees there.”

With the help of community volunteers like the Bush Fruits Landcare group to plant trees, Marie is excited to make the two projects come to life.

“We love the clubhouse,” she said. “We have the Transformers monthly trans social group and the Fresh Fruits youth group who meet here and use the space too. We love bringing people together.”

Events

Marie said Tropical Fruits’ annual New Years Eve event brings in an estimated $5 to 10 million dollars to the local economy each year.

“We are proud to be part of Lismore and the event’s cancellation last year was a blow to the club and the whole town,” she said.

“It is not a little thing is a small regional economy like ours.

“Tropical Fruits is a social club that is run by and for the LBGTIQ+ community and all our friends and allies and we have a great relationship with Lismore town,” she said.

Fair Day in September

Marie said plans were going ahead to hold the annual Fair Day at the Lismore Showgrounds on September 12, from 11am to 5pm.

“It is an outdoors event and we are very confident it will go ahead as planned, under restrictions,” she said.

“We will have the usual dog show, kids’ activities, cabaret show, hat parade show, bake off and photography show.

“This year we also have a t-shirt design competition for young people. The winner gets their design printed onto a t-shirt.

“It’s an inclusive day for the whole family – kids and dogs too. Come and chill on the grass and listen to tunes and it’s only costs a $5 entry fee.”