A $1000 grant will allow the Ekam Yoga Festival at Francis Retreat, Bonny Hills, to provide free community activities on September 2 and 3. 

The September 2 free community activities will have a family focus.

Ekam Yoga Festival event manager Denis Juelicher said the aim was to have people milling around and to have a real sense of community and people enjoying themselves at all time.

“The festival is often seen as something specifically catering to people who love doing yoga and do a lot of yoga,” she said.

“We want to open the door to the broader community and invite people to participate in the celebration and some of the activities without feeling they have to be committed yogis.”

The Mid North Coast Maritime Museum will put its $1000 grant towards historical signage.

Museum coordinator Ted Kasehagen said by having this signage displayed nearby at a commemorative cairn, it would give the community a further understanding of how the pilots put their lives on the line each time they ventured out into the river in all weather.

The Port Macquarie-Hastings Council’s heritage and culture officer will work in conjunction with the museum and the Liley family in support of this project.

“We wish to promote our local maritime history, in particular the loss of a pilot’s life, lost whilst on duty on board the pilot boat which was assisting a steamer to cross the dangerous bar at the mouth of the Hastings River,” Mr Kasehagen said.

“The public, community groups, local and overseas visitors that pass through this site on the Town Beach walk will have a further understanding of the courageous pilots that worked our river.”

Mid North Coast Maritime Museum and the Ekam Yoga Festival submitted the Stockland Community Grants applications via Lincoln Gardens Retirement Village.