Tony Goodman, Cindy Vogels have plan to bring colour and light to Mary St

Dozens of empty shopfronts line Gympie’s CBD after one of the worst floods in living memory. Now, a businessman and creative team have come up with a plan to revive the city centre.

A Gympie businessman wants to bring light and colour back to Mary Street, after floods ravaged the CBD earlier this year.

Bella Casa owner Tony Goodman hopes to work with landlords of up to 30 empty stores to display vibrant local art in the vacant windows.

The former Gympie Chamber of Commerce president will be working in collaboration with creative director/designer Cindy Vogels and the Gympie Regional Council.

The plan comes as the Bureau of Meteorology announced a third consecutive La Niña weather pattern, a rare occurrence only seen three times in 120 years.

This has sparked persistent rumours of another impending “monster flood”, which the Bureau of Meteorology has debunked.

There are currently about 30 vacant shops in Mary Street, including those of major retailers The Reject Shop and Jay Jays.

The flooding was the worst since 1999.

Mary Street was underwater earlier this year.

Mr Goodman said the Gympie CBD had come to resemble a “ghost town”.

“There have been a lot of comments from the community about the devastation in the lower part of Mary Street … about how distressing it looks,” Mr Goodman said.

This is not the first time Mr Goodman has used art to revitalise the CBD.

He said in 2014 a similar project garnered a fantastic response.

“It brought a lot more people into Mary Street,” Mr Goodman said.

“The odd landlord ended up getting a tenant out of it, so it was a mutually beneficial exercise for landlords who have empty shops and the community at large.”

One of the many vacant shops in Mary Street.

Mr Goodman hopes to repeat his success from 2014 to breathe fresh air into the area.

“The whole idea is that instead of driving down the street or walking down the street and seeing empty shop after empty shop, people see this colour,” he said.

“It provides a lot more life and atmosphere.”

Cindy Vogels and Tony Goodman are frequent collaborators.

Creative director and designer Cindy Vogels will be working with Mr Goodman to find local artists to get involved.

She said she wanted to spread her love of art to bring positivity to the region, after the intense natural disasters.

“The empty shops are a heartbreaking reminder of how hard our town continues to suffer from ongoing flooding,” Ms Vogels said.

“As an artist and art lover I do believe that the empty windows are worth the effort to curate and showcase our local artists.”

“Public art humanises our built environment and invigorates us in the spaces we go to.”

Cindy Vogels is excited to get involved with the project.

Ms Vogels said she was looking forward to working with Mr Goodman to give back to the local community.

“Tony Goodman has always cared deeply for the entire Mary Street precinct, and I’ve witnessed his passion for going above and beyond with his retail/business community,” she said.

“I will work with Tony to see benefits for our community and my creative community in this space.”

The duo has already entered discussions with seven landlords and the council to bring the bright idea to fruition.

Mr Goodman said the exercise would ultimately be a win-win for everybody involved.

“It’s a win for the landlord, but it’s also a win for the local artist in the street,” he said.

“It’s a win for the community, it’s a win for the traders in Mary Street – it’s a win-win all around!”