By Olivia Schoenauer
The lights that have lit up Moriarty Park for decades are being donated to the Canungra Show Society.
After receiving a maintenance grant in the 2024-2025 Scenic Rim Regional Council budget, the Moriarty Park Community Sporting Centre upgraded their lights.
The original park lights will be given to the Canungra Show Society, to light up the rodeo arena.
The arena currently has no fixed lighting and requires hired portable lighting, which costs the society a significant amount of money each year.
Keeping the lights within the Canungra community was important for both the Moriarty Park and Canungra Show Society committees, as construction of the original lights was made possible by huge fundraising efforts by the local community, led by Joane Hopley.
President of the Canungra Show Society James Geiger said the society was pleased to see the lights being repurposed for the showgrounds.
“We’ll make good use of them for a long time yet,” he said.
Secretary of Moriarty Park, Rickie Glockler, was glad to see an opportunity for the lights to stay within Canungra, particularly at one of its longest-standing community groups.
“The Canungra rodeo is one of our major events in town, so to have those lights would be a massive asset to the show society,” she said.
The park lights would have gone straight to scrap metal had the show committee not expressed interest in having them.
“The fact that the lights go back into the community, as something that can be recycled, means a lot to this community,” she shared.
After previously being denied a grant to install lights at the showground rodeo arena, James shared his excitement for the future of the Canungra Show Society’s events with the new lights.
“We can actually run more events now because there’ll be full-time lighting there,” he said.
Rickie said the exchange reflects the same community spirit that first funded the lights.
“That’s a good thing about Canungra, everyone gets behind each other and pushes for what they see is going to benefit the community,” she shared.
James thanked the Moriarty Park committee for its donation and investment in the showgrounds’ future.
“It’s just a great benefit for the showgrounds. A lot of appreciation from us to the Moriarty Park committee,” he said.
The lights are set to be installed in time for the July rodeo, with many more community events to benefit in the years ahead.
