What a wild start to the week we had! That icy wind seemed to find every gap in our leaky office doors and windows and cut straight through us. It even started to force our office door open often enough that we locked it in an attempt to stay warm! Thankfully, conditions were much better for the Winter Fire Festival events that kicked off over the weekend, including the Millthorpe Fire Fair. We sent our photographer Henry DeRooy to brave the cold, and he took some great photos of the village festivities in Millthorpe, which you will find inside this week's edition. It looks like it was a very successful (if cold!) evening!

Also this week, we attended the opening of Charles Sturt University's new $1.5 million medical Simulation Centre and Immersion Room at the Bloomfield Medical building. It's an impressive facility made possible through funding from Newmont Cadia’s Community Investment Program that will give medical students and other healthcare professionals the opportunity to practise training scenarios in a realistic setting. Seeing it all in use last week, it is easy to see the advantages it will provide, and it's great to know that this standard of training is available this side of the Blue Mountains. You can read more about it on page 5 of this week's magazine.

Don't forget that voting for the People's Choice Categories in the 2026 Business Orange Awards closes this Friday, August 14. It is a great way to give back and say thank you to your favourite local business as it is completely decided by popular public vote. This year's People's Choice Categories are: Orange's Trade Star/s; Orange's Customer Service Star/s; Orange's Outstanding Creative Talent; and Orange's Favourite Business. To vote, head to the Business Orange website, businessorange.com.au, follow the links, and complete the voting form. The People's Choice Winners will be revealed on stage at the Gala Awards Evening at Banksia on September 25. Good luck to all the nominees.