THE gala opening of new conference venue, The Palm House in Cannonvale, was held on Saturday night with 110 elegantly attired guests enjoying the evening hosted by the McKinnon family.

A wide cross-section of people from the community were invited and many local suppliers came together to deliver a top-quality Whitsunday event.

People were greeted by uniformed staff on arrival at the entrance to BIG4 Adventure Whitsunday Resort and directed through the colourfully lit tropical garden and The Palm Pavilion to The Palm House.

Beautifully adorned floral garden nymphs combining costume and body paint from Melbourne based Event Theatre International performed to complement the magical garden theme, created by The Event Company, while local high school student and pianist Isabelle Silberling entertained guests.

The MC was local real estate agent Paul Skinner. Whitsunday Mayor Jennifer Whitney officially opened the new function venue by cutting a red ribbon.

Danial Rochford from WMDL spoke along with the owner of BIG4 Adventure Whitsunday, Greg McKinnon, who provided interesting historical facts about the development of the resort. Mrs Jan McKinnon, the matriarch of the family, gave an impromptu speech congratulating her children on taking the park to another level.

Other VIPs included Councillor Jan Clifford, Kari Hunter the acting CEO from BIG4's head office in Melbourne, Kari Hunter and Tourism Gems representative Kayleen Allen who wrote the original submission for the federal TIRF grant funding.

The three course meal was provided by Catering Whitsunday.

"There was a great atmosphere with so many locals coming together to enjoy good company and good food and celebrate the hard work and huge contribution from so many businesses that goes into developing the Whitsunday's tourism business," Greg McKinnon said.

If you would like to have a look at the new venue for yourself it is open to the public today and tomorrow from 2-5pm so you can see the flexibility of the facility and how it can cater for a variety of functions including parties, meetings or weddings.