I am tipping 2025 will be the year when, finally, the main street of Campbelltown gets some serious attention.
Poor old Queen Street has been smashed from pillar to post in the past 40 years or so, which just happens to coincide with the opening of Macarthur Square.
The councils of the late 1970s and early 1980s should have been awake to the impact on the main street and ensured action was taken to protect it from decay.
Instead they assumed nothing would happen, and that turned out to be wrong, very wrong.
What is really amazing about Queen Street, one of the great strips anywhere in the Sydney metro area, is that it has never completely lost its allure.
Smart looking new businesses open up at regular intervals, which helps to maintain the main street’s appeal.
These days it’s definitely a little grungy, in the musical sense – you know, a little rough around the edges, but definitely worth salvaging.
It all starts with bringing back the Fisher’s Ghost festival parade, and we know that two community minded councillors, Warren Morrison and Josh Cotter, are on the case.
A lot of people I’ve spoken to since the last festival said it didn’t feel right without a parade.
As long time residents will tell you, the parade was about the community coming together either by participating or just packing Queen Street to watch the show.
We know the parade was axed to save money, but we’re talking about a drop in the ocean.
The plan for the parade ought to have been about making it better every year, a real showstopper that attracted people from all over Sydney and beyond.
Last year Campbelltown proudly opened the Billabong Parklands, so let 2025 be the year the great festival parade returns to the main street.
But as our Top 5 points out, there’s plenty of other things Campbelltown needs to fight hard for in the next 12 months.
Number 1. Bring back the festival parade in ’25.
Number 2. Revitalise Queen Street.
Number 3. Sport centre of excellence sooner rather than later.
Number 4. Green light for the great jobs circuit breaker, the Campbelltown justice precinct.
Number 5. Serious funding for a serious upgrade of Campbelltown Sports Stadium.
