Gold Cup Festival to flourish

The Palmerston North Gold Cup Festival will return in 2018.

The inaugural festival in March was thwarted by uncertainty in the lead up to the event when the Awapuni race track was closed for repairs.

Racing at Awapuni Combined Enterprise chief executive Alasdair Robertson said attendance at on and off-course events and betting turnover had proven the first run at the festival was a success and the foundation for an event that could grow.

He was optimistic the event will continue to gain momentum.

Robertson reported back to the city council’s economic development committee on Monday because the festival is receiving $50,000 a year for three years from city ratepayers.

He said more than 4000 people attended the main race day meeting at Awapuni, and the harness night meeting the night before, with more than 3000 at the Jimmy Barnes concert at Central Energy Trust Arena, and more than 500 at the festival opening in The Square.

On-course turnover at the harness and greyhound meeting was up nearly threefold on what could have been expected as an average, he said.

At Awapuni, total on and offcourse turnover was more than $2.1 million, up 13.2 per cent on a similar event a year ago, and against betting trends.

In his original pitch for council help with the festival, Robertson said if it could grow to be half as successful as the New Zealand Cup and Show week in Christchurch, it could generate $13.8m in economic impact for Manawatu, and $16.3m in direct spending.

However, its budget had not extended to calculating how many visitors were attracted from outside the city in the first year.

Robertson said the festival launch had been hurt by the suspension of racing at Awapuni by the Racing Integrity Unit in December for track repairs.

The closure to allow a troublesome bend at the top of the back straight to be fixed saw three race meetings relocated away from Awapuni, including the popular Boxing Day Races.

The closure and uncertainty had caused ‘‘significant communication confusion and disruption’’, he said.

‘‘Notwithstanding that, I believe that the overall design of the festival is strong and valid for the next year.’’

Robertson said the marketing plan was robust and could be built on over the next three to five years to create a ‘‘legacy’’ event for the city.

Key successes were in the way the festival drew in so many aspects of Palmerston North’s strengths, from students and the army, to stockcars and farming.

Next year’s festival would run from March 28 to 31, although the Friday would be low-key as it would be Good Friday.

Robertson was delighted with the way the festival events had been picked up by local media, and next year more emphasis would be given to local rather than national marketing.

The prize piece would be a new car that a punter would drive away in after the final race, with a twoweek lead-up encouraging entries in the competition.

Entertainment had not yet been confirmed.

Committee chairman Adrian Broad said the council was grateful for the effort put into making the festival a success and he was pleased planning for next year was already underway.