Much more than a car show
Pukehina Sand ‘n’ Surf Autorama keeps growing
We’re gonna need a bigger paddock. Organisers of the increasingly popular Pukehina Sand ‘n’ Surf Autorama charity event have some head scratching to do before next year.
After bursting at the seams last year, they thought they had the situation sussed by securing the use of another paddock next to Pukehina School to accommodate the overspill.
It didn’t quite work out that way on Saturday, with the event again attracting vehicle owners and members of the public in their hundreds and thousands, and everyone squeezed in tight.
“We are absolutely stoked that everybody gets in behind it every year and turns up - it’s just amazing,” says Stu Brickland, one of the organisers.
“The support we get not only from the car community but the public ... the public turned up in droves, everywhere you looked, it was a sea of people enjoying the day.”
The event is a fundraiser with money going to Pukehina Surf Rescue and Pukehina Volunteer Fire Brigade, and early indications are that over $30,000 was raised.
“We haven’t finalised all the bills yet, but we think that is where it will lie.”
An estimate based on a comparison with 2023 suggests the number of visitors was between 4000 and 5000.
“I figured we had about 3500 the year before and got the feeling there was more this time, just going by the
number of people walking around the display area.”
There were about 400 vehicles ranging from classic cars, hot rods and muscle cars to motorcycles and military vehicles. There was also a display of specialist vehicles including drag cars, a speedway car, a vintage stock car and Te Puke Fire Brigade’s vintage fire engine.
The market area included about 70 food and craft stalls.
“If we are going to go any bigger we’d need a bigger area. We don’t particularly want to move, but we had to expand the display area as the morning wore on.
“They ended up moving the tape [around the display area] out I think maybe three or four times. Every time they moved it out they thought it was enough, but they had to move it out again and again just to get all the show cars in.”
Stu says one of the highlights was prizegiving and shout-out to sponsors at the end of the day.
“Everyone sitting around in the shade, having a hamburger and icecream and just enjoying getting into it, that just floats my boat watching everybody enjoying the day, just chilling out with family.
“I heard some really good comments about how many different food stalls we had and the craft stalls, and the sponsors, they were outstanding with the sponsorship money.’
He says the event is designed for families and to be affordable.
“I heard the face painter was snowed under and everybody I spoke to who had a stall there said they sold heaps and heaps.
“We want to make it reasonable for everybody. It’s a gold coin to get in and you can have a sausage for $2 or you can have a burger for $15, it just depends where your budget is.”
The first two stagings of the Autorama had been at Midway Park at Pukehina Beach. A year ago, in the wake of Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, organisers had to hurriedly find a new venue as the park was simply too wet.
Pukehina School stepped in and this year the school was the venue again.
“We are already having conversations about the next one, so plans are already under way - there’s no rest for the wicked.”