The Stupendous Strawberry Festival! – Kāpiti and Coast Independent

By Roger Childs

It was a fantastic family fun day in support of a good cause. Kapiti Mary Potter Hospice Administrator, Debra Minty

The sunshine brings out the people

The good spell of weather lasted into the weekend which was great news for the Mary Potter Hospice. The takings are still being counted, but the total is likely to be a record, about $20,000.

Locals turned out in the thousands for the fund raiser at Paraparaumu Beach. The festival takes its name from the strawberries and ice cream on sale and these sold briskly for $5 a plate from two hubs

at McLean Park
in McLean Street.

The enthusiastic work of over 70 volunteers, resplendent in their red and white T shirts, was a key factor in the success of the day.

Fairground atmosphere in Paraparaumu Beach

This year the festival was based on the grassy circles at the end of MacLean St and the main business area was closed off to vehicles. This allowed about 30 stall holders to parade their wares and local shops reported good business.

To assist with the safe management of the crowds, traffic on Marine Parade was controlled, and this permitted a free flow of people from the shops across to the park area.

Plenty of entertainment and retail activity

There was non-stop music from 9.00am to 4.00pm on the big grassy circle by the beach and this was an ideal venue for spectators. The entertainment was enthusiastically received and included

singers
dancers
drummers
acrobats
bands.

After eating their strawberries and ice cream, children were able to take advantage of bouncy castles, face painting and horse rides.

Cake and plant stalls as well as businesses down McLean St, provided plenty of options for people with some loose change.

Keeping the hospice’s services free

The Mary Potter Hospice is grateful for the generous support provided by local businesses and the people of Kapiti.

PAK’nSAVE supplied all the strawberries and ice cream, and sponsorship was also provided by the Kapiti News, Strawberry Growers and The Dominion Post.

The funds raised last Saturday will be a big help in ensuring that the hospice’s services, for people from Peka Peka to Paekakariki, remain free of charge.

Wellington and Porirua have their strawberry festivals on Wednesday 27 November and Saturday 30 November respectively.

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STORY OF THE WEEK

Kāpiti Coast councillors have toured of one of Aotearoa's unique buildings, the heritage - listed Rotunda at the former Otaki Health Camp, the country’s first.

Jeremy Smith reports that the 105-year-old, eight-sided rotunda predates the Health Camp.

It wasn't actually built in Otaki, but was one of two built in Rotorua in 1915 as part of a military hospital, on the site of Rotorua’s present public hospital.

Later they were taken to Otaki for the opening of the health camp in 1931.

Full story in the main column (December 19).

100 Years Ago — and the Maori Long March begins

Māori politics was dominated by the influential MPs (and sometime Cabinet ministers) Māui Pōmare ( Waitara statue photo above) and Apirana Ngata.

The 1920's also saw the rise of Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana’s religious movement, and the emergence of Te Puea Hērangi in Waikato.

Ngata worked hard to foster Māori scholarship and education and preserve traditional arts and culture.

He convinced the government to establish a Board of Maori Ethnological Research (1923), a Maori Purposes Fund Control Board (1924) and a School of Maori Arts and Crafts in Rotorua (1927).

The Reform government also took the first, tentative steps towards settling longstanding Māori grievances.

Agreements with Te Arawa in 1922 and Ngāti Tūwharetoa in 1926 recognised their respective rights over the Rotorua lakes and Lake Taupō, and led to the establishment of trust boards with some government funding.

Commissions of inquiry which examined Ngāi Tahu grievances (1920–21) and the Waikato and Taranaki confiscations (1926–27) recommended that modest compensation be paid.