By JESSE GRAHAM
MARYSVILLE’S main street is whole once again, after the town’s multi-million dollar hotel officially opened last week.
The Vibe Hotel and Conference Centre was officially opened on Tuesday 21 April, when Regional Development Minister Jaala Pulford and Toga Group chairman Ervin Vidor unveiled an opening plaque before a conference room full of Marysville identities, local celebrities and politicians.
The 101-room hotel, which features a cafe and restaurant, has already seen 4000 guests since opening on 12 February, and the community gathered at the event which marked the next step in the reconstruction of the town.
Identities, such as sculptor and painter Bruno Torfs, politicians and community members filled out the conference room at the $28 million hotel for the opening, celebrating with food and drink in hand.
Hotel staff member, Jane Ackerman, who worked in the town before the fires, summed up the opening simply:
“It’s good to have something here,” she said.
“It feels complete.”
Murrindindi mayor Margaret Rae said the opening of the hotel sent a message that the town had been attempting to send for years – that Marysville is open for business.
“For a long time now, Marysville has been trying to describe itself to people as ‘we’re open for business’, and it’s really, really hard to do that,” Cr Rae said.
“It’s hard for small businesses to be self-sustaining without some larger enterprise.
“We lost all of our larger venues – this is the first of the large ones to come back.”
The hotel runs down a substantial portion of Muchison Street and sits on the site of two former town icons, the Keppel Hotel and the Cumberland Hotel, which manager Phil Wilmot said was acknowledged in the new facility.
“With our conference rooms, we’ve acknowledged the five major guesthouses – Cumberland, Marylands, Karinga, Keppel and Kitchener,” Mr Wilmot said.
Cr Rae said that the Vibe ‘filled a hole’ in the town’s main street and that she hoped word of mouth would quickly spread to bring more tourism into the town.
“The old Cumberland has been physically missing and there hasn’t been that sort of focus point for this part of the street,” she said.
“What the Vibe coming here has done is filled the hole with something of substance that is attractive, that people will come to, but also adds energy to the whole street.”
Marysville Triangle Business and Tourism President, Christine Adams, said the town’s Visitor Information Centre had its best attendance on record for January, February and March, and joined Cr Rae in praising the opening of the business.
With the snow season creeping closer, Mr Wilmot said the hotel was ready and waiting for people heading to the hills from the Yarra Valley and beyond.
