Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 1949. CARNIVAL—AND AFTER

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 39, 10 January 1949, Page 4

Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 1949 .

CARNIVAL—AND AFTER

Though by some standards possibly not a sensational success, Whakatane’s New Year Carnival was all set to be the brightest event in this district for many a long year when the weather broke and wrecked the New Year street carnival plans. That, and that alone, prevented the Carnival Committee’s aims being achieved even beyond their most optimistic hopes. Right up to the week before Christmas there was evident a certain uneasiness amongst the organisers. Would the thing “go?” Were the local citizens perhaps a bit too staid to take this sort of thing in their stride? How would the visitors react?

Those doubts were dispelled by the opening scenes of the carnival as Christmas business in town rose to its climax. The crowd was in town, and in the right mood. Any everyone was ready to enter into the fun. The children’s parade, and the dramatic arrival of Santa Claus were minor triumphs, reflecting real credit on the organisers. Interest mounted until, on New Year’s Eve, all seemed set for a night of jollification such as this place had never seen before.

Then it rained, and the wouldbe revellers scurried for shelter. Those who did stay in town found fine entertainment provided by the’ Maori concert party at the Grand Theatre, but it was in many ways a pity that the original programme could not have been followed that evening. That would have been the real test of Whakatane’s readiness to enter into the carnival spirit. It would have been the real test of visitors’ reaction. And there is every reason to suppose that such a test would have justified the organisers’ confidence to the full.

Now the question arises: What of the future?

Is it worthwhile keeping the Carnival Committee in existence and expanding it into something like a 30,000 club as an organisation (quite apart from the Chamber of Commerce and like bodies) to devote itself entirely to the job of boosting Whakatane as a holiday resort, as a district full of commercial opportunity, and as a place to hold out the hand of friendship to the stranger within its gates? There is no doubt that any place like ihis one, with hound-

less possibilities for future expansion and development, should be prepared to write “Welcome” on its doormat in a big way. It seems a reasonable suggestion that' there should be some organisation of citizens, including but not restricted to the business community, always on the job to plan ways and means to attract and hold the type of new resident a growing town needs, as well as to make this a pleasant, hospitable place for holiday makers to visit. We have natural holiday assets that might well be the envy of larger places. We have plenty of interesting things to tell a stranger about our district. We have much to show him. What we need is a permanent-ly-constituted body of constructive boosters to see that it gets done the right way. And it looks as though the Carnival Committee might well form the nucleus of such an organisation.