Longest Lunch off menu

A popular community lunch celebrating the settlement of Feilding has been cancelled and replaced by an international cycle race.

The Longest Lunch, an Edwardian-themed event in Kowhai Park, started two years ago to mark settlers’ day in the Manawatu¯ town, but organisers have this year canned the community picnic typically held on Wellington Anniversary day. Instead, families are being urged to gather in Manchester Square on January 19 for an array of activities as cyclists competing in the Gravel and Tar race take off.

It is the fourth year the race from Feilding through Halcombe and back to Palmerston North has been held. Bouncy castles, face painting, live music and lawn games will still be available and it will still be a family affair, a Feilding and District Promotion statement says.

The decision to prioritise the cycle race over the lunch was made in last March after the council asked for the organisation’s backing, project manager Raewyn Loader said. The lunch had been the centrepiece of the weekend’s celebrations in the past, and included vintage cars and displays from the Feilding and District Historical Society. However, the society may not be at the cycle event.

This year marks 145 years since Hector Booth took the first families of settlers to the area in 1874 by jolting and lurching a bullock wagon. They were taking up land on Manchester Block, a thin strip of land between the Rangitı¯kei River and the ranges, and covered in bush.

The settlers paid no money, but had to provide labour. In return, each received an acre of land.

The town they developed became Feilding.

Some of the events of those times were usually re-enacted during the anniversary celebrations at the long lunch.