Last week the festivities for Winter Wanderlust included a range of events across multiple locations in town.

Visit Cowra, using the Cowra and Australian Single Vineyard Wine Show as the signature event, collaborated with a range of businesses, organisations, musicians, makers and artists to showcase some of Cowra's local offerings.

The program included pop-up events, tastings, workshops, demonstrations, art exhibitions, performances and a recovery breakfast.

Tourism Manager, Courtney Preo, worked to develop the program and said the collaboration from locals has been crucial for the events success.

"The Winter Wanderlust Program was about showcasing the very best of our region; giving more people a reason to visit and more reasons to stay longer, explore further, and support local businesses." said Ms Preo.

The expanded program also featured the very successful Lights at the Garden and a range of activations at the Cowra Japanese Garden across both weekends.

Wednesday night at Cowra Regional hosted The Gallery Table event included tastings of local wines and products by boutique olive farm, Molly’s Grove, owned by Sue Sutton and Mark McColm.

Moving from the Central Coast to the Central West to purchase the olive grove, the pair have been developing a range of products including olive oil, soaps, sea salt flakes, dukkha’s, a range of caramelised vinegars and hand-turned olive wood products.

“We are so lucky to have passionate local producers like Molly’s Grove in our region and having the chance to share their story alongside artists of the region at the Cowra Regional Art Gallery is really special,” she said.

On Thursday night an art exhibition ‘The Road to Central West’ opened at Little Magpie Gallery.

The curated exhibition features art works in a range of mediums and styles inspired by the landscape and lifestyle of Central West.

The opening night featured speeches by Gallery Owner, Artist and Curator, Inel Date, with Guest Speaker, Courtney Preo.

Ms Date worked with Ms Preo to incorporate this special exhibition into the Winter festivities.

The speeches covered the process of collaborating to celebrate our connection to other regions in the Central West, with several artists from many locations participating in the exhibition.

The opening coincides with Ms Preo's arrival to Cowra a year ago after relocating from Brisbane to take on the role of Tourism Manager at Visit Cowra.

The speeches gained a wonderful reception from the audience, with a moment of applause and commendation, for Ms Preo's enthusiasm to showcase all that Cowra has to offer including its strong and lustrous arts community.

Ms Preo said she is passionate about people coming together and wants everyone to share what they love and value about the Cowra, loudly.

“We need to share the good stories loudly like the beautiful shops, galleries and spaces that Cowra has to offer,” said Ms Preo.

“This exhibition here does this really well.”

Originally founded as a Pop-Up space the gallery will be celebrating three years of operating on Kendall Street in September.

The ‘Road to Central West’ exhibition is on display until 26 July.

The weekend wrapped up with a recovery brunch hosted by Cowra Antique Vehicle Club with Visit Cowra, Cowra Micro Gallery, Romanian Delights, Mama Bears Coffee, CWA cake stall, and featured local musician, Davey Cutmore.

The event was a great way to share the heritage building whilst sharing the work done by the community groups using the non-operational train station.

The building is used by numerous local community groups including Cowra Antique Vehicle Club, Lachlan Valley Rail (LVR), Cowra Micro Gallery and the Cowra and District Historical Society.

Artists of Cowra East run Cowra Micro Gallery which offers a unique exhibition space in a micro-sized room at the northern end of the station.

This weekend will feature an opening by local artist, Wayne Miles.

The exhibition titled ‘Wayfaring with Marks and Spaces’ is an exploration into colours and the relationship with abstraction and the built environment.

The exhibition opens at Midday on Sunday 26 July and runs until Sunday 16 August.

Members of the public can visit the station on the last weekends of the month to experience heritage train rides hosted by LVR, who also offer the ‘Scone train’ on the last Sunday of the month from 10am to 3pm.