By Jed Lanyon
Yarra Ranges Council’s Citizen of the Year for 2020 is president of the Lilydale Agricultural and Horticulture Society, Paul Tripp.
Mr Tripp, through his involvement with the society, has been instrumental in delivering the Lilydale Show for over 25 years.
Upon hearing that he had been named as Citizen of the Year, Mr Tripp told the Mail, “I was really shocked about it. I didn’t expect it.”
He says he couldn’t have done it without the ongoing support of his wife.
Mr Tripp said that the Lilydale Show is now the 10th largest show in Victoria and that he’s proud of how it has developed to become professional and much safer over the years.
“I started off in the maintenance committee, they are the ones that do all of the heavy lifting and stuff. Eventually I moved to be vice-president for a few years and now I’m the president,” he explained.
“I enjoy the mateship with people that you create over the years. You’re all just trying to help put it on to try and create a successful show.”
Along with his role as agricultural society president, Mr Tripp has been a Scouts leader for the past 30 years with the Mount Evelyn Scouts Association.
Having started at the Scouts as a cub himself, he has seen many children go through the cubs program and onto Scouts, picking up valuable life skills along the way. He’s also helped improve the facilities of the Scouts to get them up to a better standard.
“We try to make them improve themselves and make them better citizens. We want them to learn life skills,” Mr Tripp said.
The agricultural society’s treasurer Sally Centrone said: “Paul does a lot of our maintenance around the showgrounds … He is a bit of a driving force behind the maintenance crew … If we didn’t have him we couldn’t put it all together.”
Lilydale Agriculture and Horticulture Society were also named as council’s Group of the Year.
The Lilydale Agricultural and Horticultural Society has been a key part of the Lilydale community for decades, with the annual Lilydale Show being run by the society for 60 years.
The Lilydale Show brings thousands of visitors from the wider Yarra Ranges and across the state to enjoy rides, games, displays and events that showcase the agricultural, horticultural and creative produce of the region.
“It’s a wonderful recognition of all those volunteers who are in the shire and show society itself because the society has been around since the early 50’s and I don’t think it really ever had the recognition that it should have for what it does for the community,” Ms Centrone said.
“It’s all a big community effort with all the volunteers, executives and stewards who help; otherwise we wouldn’t be able to put a show on,” Mr Tripp said.
