A weekly re-cap of the events that have made news in Cairns over the past week.

Tuesday May 13, 2002 65th Edition

Cairns Mothers were acknowledged over the weekend for the dedication and support that they give to their families throughout the year. Mothers Day has grown to become one of the main celebrations of the year with florists reporting business in excess of ten times a normal week. Cairns has also noted some effect from Australian Airlines already with a number of businesses starting to expand their operations in expectation of increased demand once the airline starts operations out of Cairns.

Cairns businesses start gearing up for the arrival of Australian
In the first concrete sign that Australian Airlines will have a positive impact on the Cairns economy one local printer is so confident that they have made a $3 million investment in a new printing press to cope with the expected increase in demand for their services. As well as a new printing press, the company, Lotsa Printing, was expecting to employ five new staff in the near future. Australian Airlines has forecast that it will bring extra an 160,000 tourists to Cairns each year and it hopes to have as many as 1.5 million passengers flying with the airline by 2004. Many other local businesses are starting to gear up for the arrival of the airline and the extra passengers in October.

Large crowds attend Italian Festival
Every year the town of Ingham is host to the Australian Italian Festival, a celebration of the history of Italian immigrants and the role that they have played in North Queensland. The theme for this year's festival was Lombardy, which is a northern province of Italy. Feranada Gatti won the Great Italian Bake Off with a tomato based risotto and newcomer to this highly competitive event, Travis Olivero won the Spaghetti Eating Competition. A record crowd of over 22,000 people attended the three day festival, which has become a firm fixture on the calendar of events for North Queensland.

Garden Show attracts much larger crowds than normal
Outstanding weather and some well-known faces drew a crowd that was 50 per cent larger this year to the Tropical Garden Show in Cairns. About 15,000 people attended the two day show, which is always held over the Mothers Day weekend. There was some concern about the show going ahead with public liability insurance hikes of 300 per cent forcing the show's organisers to reassess the viability of the project. The large crowds and the support from companies displaying their products reaffirmed that they had made the right decision.

Cowboys start to show some form
The North Queensland Cowboys rugby league team have shown their critics that in the right situations they can play rugby with the best of them. The Cowboys destroyed the West's Tigers on the weekend in a one side 40-16 victory. The previous week the Cowboys came with a point of beating the Parramatta eels in one of the best matches of the season so far.

Raintrees Shopping Centre set for a face lift
Cairns oldest shopping centre has begun the next stage of a $15.8 million redevelopment, which is expected to create up to 200 jobs and double the retail space in the Centre. Demand for the new space was strong as Cairns experiences an overall improvement in the retail environment for the first time in many years. When the redevelopment is completed this local icon will look completely new from the inside and out.

Taipans lose one of their best
Aaron Trahair has been a consistent point scorer for Cairns Taipans NBL team for the past three years. The point guard has declined a contract extension with the Taipans and moved to the National Basketball leagues 2002 Grand Finalists team, the West Sydney Razorbacks.