A taste of more than the arts
FROM family picnics on the council precinct lawn to Friday night after-work drinks and weekend brunches - Taste@Space will cover it all.
In a bid to make the Artspace area a hot tourist attraction for food and art lovers, Mackay Regional Council agreed yesterday to apply for a $160,000 grant to give the facility an outdoor facelift.
This was music to the ears of new lessee, Taste Matters owner Bernie Barry, as the improvements to the former Foodspace cafe are on par with her vision for the eatery.
"I am really excited. It follows on our plan of reopening and maximising the use of the outdoor area," she said.
"One of the key areas we will be looking at is evening functions... and certainly utilising the outdoor space for evening functions, it is just gorgeous."
Ms Barry plans to reopen the restaurant under the Taste@Space banner in January.
Festival, events and the arts portfolio councillor Chris Bonanno said the facelift would get more people visiting the gallery.
"There are about 500 people per week who go through Artspace already," Cr Bonanno said.
"It should encourage more people to look at the arts and eat some of the food."
Council members voted in favour of applying for the funding, which has been made available by the Tourism Industry Regional Development Fund Grants Program.
Mrs Barry said the cafe would look completely different once the space was fully fitted out.
"It's going to look quite different inside. We are going to introduce the dry delicatessen line we have at Taste Matters," she said.
"There will be shelves of yummy gourmet foods, which will create much more character and warmth."
Mrs Barry said Taste Matters would continue to operate in Wood St.
