WHAT put Portland on the map in 2001 has now become an annual event (because the organisers aren’t getting any younger) and the streets of Portland are looking all the better for it.
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Now Portland has experienced another Wallnuts Weekend.
The Wallnuts are a ‘club’ of very talented signwriting artists who specialise in recreating signs of a bygone era as street art.
Their past work has become a highlight of the Portland business area streetscape, valued by locals and admired by visitors.
From Friday evening until Sunday night the Wallnuts were again out and about adding colour to the buildings of the town.
Additions this year were Weetbix, Simpson and his donkey, Mayfields drinks, Marmite, Norman and Son’s Emporium and the most popular signwriter in the region (also organiser of the whole event) Ron Bidwell, whose face now resides on the Coronation Hotel wall in the lane near the Crystal Theatre.
Signwriters came from all over the country.
One family had three generations of signwriters making the most of the view on top of the awning of various Wolgan Street buildings.
Others were first timers who just had to come after hearing stories from previous years.
There are always the regulars who make the trek to add new signs to the walls and to touch up the ones which were looking a little tired.
Whether it was for the first time or the latest, Portland is looking a whole lot brighter for the Wallnuts efforts.
Yesterday the Wallnuts were continuing their visit to the area with a tour of the union banners on display at the State Mine Museum.
More photos of the Wallnuts and Portland Spring Fair will appear in a later edition of the Lithgow Mercury.
