By LES PEARSON

TODAY is the 30th anniversary of the Big Orange’s opening and there is hope that the still popular tourist icon could be reopened in the near future.

Current owner Frank Vallelonga told the Riverland Weekly that he has been thinking about the tourist attraction’s future.

“I have got plans for it but at this stage I cannot reveal details on exactly what they are,” Mr Vallelonga said.

He was not willing to make further comment about the site.

It has been a tumultuous 18 months for the oversized fruit, following its closure and eventual sale to Mr Vallelonga, after being passed in at auction in October 2008.

Riverland Tourism Association manager Paula Bennet said if the Big Orange was to reopen, it would add further depth to the list of local tourism locations.

“It’s always good to have a diversity of tourist attractions and businesses in the region,” she said.

“However, they would need to take a strategic approach to it (the site), if you take into account that it is not in a particular town.

“But, it does have a great big piece of fruit on it.”

The orange has long been a great photo location for visitors to the region and has remained so despite its closure, with tourists still pulling in for a look.

At the time of building, the orange was the biggest fibreglass sphere in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Big Orange was a project that David Marshall put together with the help of fellow local businessmen Bronte Coombe and Vern Chubb, starting in 1976.

The Big Orange was opened in 1980, standing 15 metres tall and weighing 85 tonnes.

It was at its popular and productive best throughout the early 1980s, during the Australian ‘big’ era.

“All in all it was a great period in the development of tourism in the Riverland,” Mr Marshall told the Weekly in a previous interview.

“It received national coverage for a number of years.

“We had a great deal of enjoyment in establishing the attraction from scratch.”

There was rampant speculation the icon would leave the region following its sale in 2008, according to former owner Kevin Dickerson.

“Part of the sale is to take it away and not to leave it here,” Mr Dickerson said at the

time.

However, more than a year later, it still stands in its field just outside of Berri, a bright orange beacon representative of an industry that has served the region well over an extended period.