There was something to celebrate at Workshop26 recently, as the not-for-profit creative collective marked five years since its doors unofficially opened.
“We say unofficially because our official opening, scheduled for March 2020, had to be cancelled at the last minute due to Covid,” Workshop26’s Barb Woolford said.
Workshop26 was the brainchild of Heather Baldock, Maree Barford, Pat Beinke, Carmen Rayner and Barb, who bought the old main street machinery dealership when it closed its doors in a time of drought.
They went on to scrape decades of grease from the floors, fill the old workshop with shipping containers, paint it and reinvent it as a small business incubator, employment generator, artisan studio, event space, co-working space, community centre and tourist attraction.
Now, five years on, the collective has helped to foster a whole range of different creative small businesses and is a must-do for locals and travellers alike.
“It’s always amazing when people come from across the other side of the country and tell us that they have timed their Nullarbor crossing so they could be in Kimba on a day that Workshop26 is open,” Heather said.
“Our main aim was to bring people from the highway into the town, so that they could see how wonderful Kimba is and support the businesses up and down our little main street.
“If you’re on the EP and you haven’t yet made it to Kimba to visit Workshop26, we’d love to see you.”
