About - Dalby's Delicious and DeLIGHTful Festival

Dalby Welcoming Community Inc. is a small but vibrant community group
that aims to make Dalby the best place to visit, live, work and play. It does
this through a number of activities, the main one being the organisation of

Dalby’s Delicious and DeLIGHTful Festival.

Dalby Welcoming Community, formed in 2008, became incorporated in

its own right in 2016.

The festival has become a whole of Dalby event as schools, kindies,
sporting groups, service organisations, youth groups, multicultural groups
and other community groups contribute and become involved in the

festival.

In recent years Dalby Welcoming Community has organised an Art
exhibition in August. In 2018 it was a Many Cultures- One Community
exhibition where the story of people from 30 different cultures was told on
30 different photo-boards.

In 2019, 80 Dalby Seniors were involved in a Billycan art Project where
they created patterns in the bottom of their billycan while exercising. They
were linked with school students who told their senior’s story and again
photo-boards were created with the art, the story and photos creating an

amazing exhibition.

Skilling Queenslanders for Work Program: Dalby Welcoming Community
is currently running its fifth Community Work Skills program where

participants, mainly born overseas, study for their Certificate 2 in Skills for
Work and Vocational Pathways while gaining their work experience
through their involvement in Dalby’s Delicious & DeLIGHTful Festival.
Dalby Welcoming Community has been very successful with

the cohorts achieving 100% employment. Dalby
Welcoming Community is proud to help people from other cultures

become an integral part of our community.

RUOK Day: Dalby Welcoming Community has joined with

Lifeline Darling Downs to challenge the Dalby community to
have a thousand voices sing one song with a celebrity singer to raise
awareness of the importance of checking on others and supporting

everyone in our community. Tania Kernaghan and Brendan Walmsley

were our celebrities in 2018 and 2019.

The Physical Environment is an important aspect of any community and
Dalby Welcoming Community committed to a number of projects after it
developed the Myall Creek Masterplan. In 2010 and 2011 the group won
Healthy Community Awards totalling $800,000 to develop the city section
of the Myall Creek precinct and project managed the development.

In 2019 Dalby Welcoming Community commissioned renowned 3D Street
artist, Jenny McCracken, to paint a giant caterpillar on one of the walking
paths in the precinct. This has been a huge hit with people out walking.

COMMUNITY

DWC is a prolific supporter in community events. Amongst our wide range of projects, we are the main hosts for R U OK Day in Dalby, and have recently devised and joined forces with other community groups to help provide homelessness support in Dalby

PROJECTS

Myall Creek Masterplan was developed by DWC and was awarded funding to develop sections along the Myall Creek.

Since 2011 the equipment and updates to the areas have been thoroughly enjoyed by locals and tourists alike

SQW

DWC has taken on the Skilling Queenslanders for work program for a number of years now and have had impressive success helping students learn skills, gain employment and encourage independence

ART

DWC is well known for its unique and inspiring Art Projects throughout the locality of Dalby, either permanent or as an exhibition as part of Dalby's Delicious and DeLIGHTful Festival or on R U OK Day

ART PROJECTS

Dalby Welcoming Community Inc. has developed some unique and creative art projects over the past few years to incorporate community spirit and encourage connection through Dalby and it's people

LANTERN ART PROJECT

DWC was fortunate to be gifted many small metal lanterns and it was decided to paint Indigenous art on some of these and install in the stage area at Anderson Park. Indigenous Artist Sharlene Smith led this project working with schools and elderly groups to produce this amazing exhibition.

PEOPLESCAPE

In September 2021 - We launched out Peoplescape Art Project at the R U OK Day event in the newly completed works in Anderson Park. We had over 99 decorated "people" of Dalby & the Western Downs which were created by the local community

The original Idea stemmed from the Art Display at the Centenary of Federation in Canberra in 2001

BILLY CAN ART PROJECT

Our Billy Can Art Project was devised by DWC and encouraged Senior Citizens of Dalby & Primary School Students to connect and engage with each other, and f or students to write a short story about the artists. The Art Project was a huge success with many great artworks made and beautiful new friendships that created

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MANY CULTURES ONE COMMUNITY

Our "Many Cultures - One Community" Art Project showcased the immense range of immigrants and long-staying visitors to our town and region. The people and their unique stories demonstrated their love for the town and it's people

Awards

Dalby Welcoming Community Inc, has become a very successful venture in building community connections and encouraging locals to celebrate and welcome newcomers to the region.

We are humbly grateful for the acknowledgement of our efforts through local and state entities

Finalist

Queensland Multicultural Awards 2017

Finalist
Community Involvement

Business Excellence Awards 2021

Finalist & Winner

Queensland Training Awards 2020

Winner

Community Training Initiative of the Year

Queensland Training Awards 2022

skilling queenslanders for work 2023

This unique and successful program by Dalby Welcoming
Community and the Queensland Government

involves the participants in many of the

behind-the-scene aspects of

Dalby’s Delicious & DeLIGHTful Festival

Participants take part in designing and building lanterns, assist in
planning the layout of the festival at Anderson Park, organise stall
holders and play an incredibly important role at the festival.

All of these activities are related to the units in the

Certificate 2 in Skills for Work and Vocational Pathways.

This Skilling Queenslanders for Work Programs assists in equipping
fifteen community members each year to develop workplace skills
and build social connections leading to their jobs of choice.