By Corey Everitt and Afraa Kori
Three businesses, including the iconic paddleboats, have left Emerald Lake Park since Christmas last year in what has been described as a serious downturn for the Puffing Billy stop.
In December last year, one of the cafes at Emerald Lake Park closed up right in the middle of the Christmas season.
In February, Lakeside Paddleboats left, leaving the lake devoid of the popular self-powered boats that many visitors had enjoyed.
This past weekend was the last for the current operators of Emerald Lake Model Railway, which has been going 43 years.
Owner Steve had decided to move on to full retirement after three years of running the model railway.
The main motivator was his retirement as he is close to turning 73, but it didn’t help that business traffic had clearly declined recently.
“We were down 36 percent in Christmas, the whole of last year has been tough, averaging 25 percent down,” Steve said.
“It’s declining, it’s like everything, like the lack of hospitality, we aren’t going to hang on for another year or two to see if it picks up.”
Puffing Billy is as busy as ever in the summer, however, it unfortunately isn’t translating to traffic at the park.
“Just from what we see, demographics are mostly tour groups, Puffing Billy supports us very well, but their visitors come for Puffing Billy and that’s it,” Steve said.
“That’s our observation, it’s not the majority of our customers.”
President of Emerald U3A, Pat Buoncristiani said the closure of businesses at Emerald Lake Park has left locals and families with fewer recreational options.
“There’s not many things to do there anymore. So it’s just a really important family amenity that disappeared,” she said.
“The loss of the paddle boats really upset people locally because they had been there forever. They were a real icon of the place. My kids went there when they were little, and other parents have also taken their kids there. Then all of a sudden, they’re gone.”
As part of the Emerald Lake Precinct Masterplan, the cafe building was planned to be demolished and repurposed as a picnic and barbecue area.
In the last Cardinia Shire Council meeting on 17 March, Cr David Nickell moved a motion to stop its demolition and explore using the current site for an arts space.
The successful motion included a review of the masterplan and a report detailing the current works scheduled for this financial year.
The decline in businesses at the park was mentioned by Cr Nickell as a motivator for the call to review.
Pat, coordinator of the Arts Subcommittee within the Emerald Village Association, played a pivotal role in establishing an arts centre in the old Tea Rooms building. She acknowledged that the collaboration between the community and council is helping to revive the local business and creative scene in the hills.
“We’ve seen the community come together with the art gallery—what was an empty building is now becoming something really special. The council couldn’t have been more helpful in getting this up and running,” she said.
“It would be a wonderful if the art gallery could actually become an ongoing concern, because we’ve got a lot of artists in the area who won’t be able to hang their work.
“This would be another reason for people to go there, to be able to see art and to have art displays at workshops. It’s a great venue for that sort of thing. I’m hoping that there’s a chance that this will continue beyond the paved festival which begins on the 6th of April.”
