The icon who put Taihape on the map
Fred Dagg, gumboots, Taihape.
The three together were immortalised in our minds and hearts by the late, much-lamented John Clarke.
But in Taihape itself, the question of who immortalised whom still remains open to debate.
Businesswoman Carol Abraham has little doubt: ‘‘We immortalised him.’’ she says.
The 1980s were tough times for farmers in the Taihape area, she recalled - low prices, huge rain, the devastation wreaked by Rogernomics. But then there was Clarke, with some light relief, which also involved taking the mickey out of the town.
That was fine by Abraham, who said Taihape grabbed the chance with both hands, or feet, and the day of the gumboot was born.
‘‘It was fantastic for us,’’ she said.
The gumboot image has reshaped the town’s idea of itself, from a remote, somewhat down-at heel rural blackspot to somewhere that knows how to have a good time, which also brought town and country together in ways never seen before.
And to this day the gumboot still has a special place in the life of the town - ever since 1985 it has held a gumboot festival, when Fred Dagg lookalikes abound, and of course on the northern approaches of Taihape there stands the corrugated iron sculpture work by the celebrated Jeff Thomson.
Gumboot throwing competition organiser Elizabeth Mortland has no problem agreeing that the festival was inspired by Fred Dagg and his eponymous gumboot-clad family even if Clarke’s connection to Taihape was never otherwise obvious.
They tried to get him to come to town, but by then he was living in Australia and didn’t like to fly.
Meantime the gumboot-as-icon has gone from strength to strength, so much so that there’s now a New Zealand Boot Throwing Association, formed by Taihape people, and a Taihape native holds the New Zealand women’s record.
But the best in the world, it turns out, are the Finns, one of 10 countries, which belong to the international association.
Finns and Germans especially flocked to the Taihape festival every year, while New Zealanders have gone to Italy and Finland for the world champs, which this year was being held in Estonia, said Mortland.
And all thanks to Fred Dagg.