Tiptoeing through the traffic
A police officer was stuck directing traffic for more than an hour on Saturday after a tulip festival got out of hand.
Traffic was bumper to bumper on Cobham Drive because of the event at Hamilton Gardens.
Cars were backed up for hours on Saturday from as far as Lorne St to the west and Hillcrest Rd to the east.
At first it was thought the annual Hamilton Tulip Festival may have attracted thousands more enthusiasts.
One motorist, who was witness to the chaos, said they arrived at the Gardens at 10am and when they left just after 11am, ‘‘it was bedlam’’.
‘‘It was like a rock concert but with Dutch cheese.’’
Although the festival drew a slightly larger crowd than in previous years the warmer weather drove the crowds to the gardens to enjoy a picnic lunch as well as the tulips, Hamilton City Council business development manager Tamsin Webb said.
That meant everyone arrived at once, rather than in a steady stream throughout the day.
Webb said once Hamilton Gardens staff became aware of the traffic problem, four extra staff were called in to help. They also called on two more volunteers for the information centre.
‘‘We’re aware of the need to review what happened [on Saturday] and that will occur [today] – obviously traffic control will be a key discussion point,’’ Webb said.
A member of the police traffic team was called in to help and was manually directing traffic, Waikato police Senior Sergeant Charles Burgess said yesterday.
Police contacted council staff, who eventually sent a crew to manage the traffic.
The officer was then rewarded with an icecream, so it paid off for him, Burgess said.
The annual tulip event, hosted by the Waikato branch of the Netherlands Society, is in its 10th year and was created after the national Dutch Festival was organised in Hamilton.
Louise van den Berg, chairwoman of the Hamilton Tulip Festival Trust, said she didn’t expect that many people at once at the event.
‘‘Several were out enjoying the weather and picnicking on the lawn – coincidentally, it was a beautiful day.’’
The weather is too warm in Hamilton to grow a wide range of tulips, but van den Berg said there were avid growers in New Zealand.
Nonetheless, the Hamilton Gardens, which has a few tulips scattered around the site, is a fitting location for the festival.
It featured Dutch food, performances, flower artists, and an exhibition on Abel Tasman, the Dutch explorer and the first European known to visit and to put New Zealand on the map 375 years ago.
‘‘We’re aware of the need to review what happened . . . obviously traffic control will be a key discussion point.’’ Tamsin Webb Hamilton City Council