Red light stops events in their tracks
Taranaki’s annual festival of classic American cars has been stopped by the red traffic light.
Americarna was axed last week, in what will be a $3 million hit to the province, hours after the Government moved the whole country to red under the Covid-19 alert system.
And the New Plymouth District Council has broken ranks with the region’s two other district councils and decided that from last Wednesday any member of the public who enters its facilities, except for the Civic Centre, will have to show a vaccination pass.
Two weeks ago, an Air New Zealand crew member on flights in and out of New Plymouth tested positive for Omicron, leading to passengers having to isolate.
‘‘We are now in the wait-andsee part of the public health response to the case who visited New Plymouth on 19th and 20th of January, but initial tests so far have been negative,’’ Jarman said.
Americarna was set for February 23-26, but event director John Rae said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s decision to cancel her wedding, which was to be held this month, suggested the situation was not going to be resolved by then.
So Americarna was over, he said. ‘‘It’s out of our control, and we’re deeply sorry. It’s gutting for the province. We’re so disappointed.’’
Rae and the Taranaki Vehicle Events Trust were devastated but they had to make the decision, he said. ‘‘This is a $3m hit for the province. Another blow that Covid’s dealt to our community.’’
They had been working ‘‘flat out’’ on the event, with 742 registrations so far.
The team had processes in place to manage vaccine passes and scanning in, he said.
‘‘We were all go, but the last thing we want is to be responsible for spreading it to people.’’
The Government had not been able to manage the border correctly, Rae said. ‘‘How else does it get in?’’
Now they are looking forward to making Americarna 2023 bigger and better than ever.
Venture Taranaki chief executive Justine Gilliland said she was a saddened by the ‘‘understandable and sensible decision’’.
The change to red would hit Taranaki’s visitor sector particularly hard.
‘‘It is not only extremely tough on our festival organisers and promoters, who have put in countless hours of planning and resource, but it impacts our hospitality, accommodation and activity providers.’’
Meanwhile, New Plymouth District Council chief executive Craig Stevenson said all its facilities would remain open under the red traffic light.
‘‘We indicated last year that if the Government moved to red, we would most likely move to vaccination passes for our main public facilities.’’
The change should not be an issue for the 93 per cent of the Taranaki population who are fully vaccinated, he said.
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IThe Stratford District Council is limiting visits to the library and visitor information centre to 30 minutes, so it can keep within the capacity limits of up to 100 people.. Its venues do not require a vaccine pass.
And Stratford’s January 29 Summer Nights film show, and February 19 Summer Nights concert, have been postponed.
The Womad music, art and dance festival, one of the biggest events on the New Plymouth Calendar, is scheduled for March 18-20 at Pukekura Park.
The Taranaki Arts Festival Trust (Taft) is responsible for staging the event, which has a $1.9m one-off underwrite from the New Plymouth District Council.
Taft chief executive Suzanne Porter said the Womad board would be meeting this week, and a media release would be sent out afterwards. This was not available before the edition deadline.
The Mitre 10 Rainbow run is still scheduled to run in New Plymouth on March 6, but Sport Taranaki will reassess the situation on February 8.
The Taranaki Alpine Club has cancelled its February 12 open climb, and the Tri Taranaki Festival is still going ahead on March 27, but spectators will be restricted onsite.
Electricarna, an annual oneday showcase of electric vehicles, is due to take place in New Plymouth on Sunday, February 27.
Steve Hobo-Tuck, local spokesman for event supporters the Better NZ Trust, said they would ‘‘wait and see’’ what happened over the coming week and make a final decison.