Wandering minstrels, shiny cars, knights of old
Market stalls, medieval fighting and a row of highly polished cars from the 1970s took over the main street of an isolated town near the Taranaki border on Saturday.
O¯ hura has a population of 160 and its shops have long been abandoned.
Locals make the 45-minute trek to Taumarunui to get their groceries, although the Cosmopolitan Club does have a small shop selling rice, flour and sugar, in case people run out, Liz Dufty, who organises the annual market day, said.
‘‘So, it’s nice to see locals on the street. It’s a good little community gettogether.’’
O¯ hura School ran a cafe in the O¯ hura Memorial Hall to raise funds and the small museum was open for people to look around, while a New Zealand flag flew at half-mast in respect to the terrible events in Christchurch on Friday.
This was the third year the market day had combined with a medieval combat tournament, Dufty said.
The sun beat down on the battles between the Stags from Lower Hutt, Steel Thorns from the Central North Island and a group from Tauranga.
As well as the locals there were about 40 visitors from the New Zealand Leyland P76 owners club who drove 16 Leyland P76 cars, dating from 1972 to 1976, into O¯ hura for the morning.
Car club members came from far and wide, including Auckland, Tauranga, the South Island and Australia.
They had been meeting in Taumarunui for the weekend, a club member said.
And Stevi Anand, a minstrel who had wandered into town from the Far North, played his guitar in the middle of the market.
Anand had family members involved with the market day as well, including his sister who was singing in a band called the Electric Universe on Saturday night, he said.