Ohakune events group formed

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 673, 11 February 1997, Page 3

Ohakune events group formed

Planning events for Ohakune and surrounding areas is the focus for a new group formed out of the planning of last year's Ohakune mardi gras. The group, which aims to form an incorporated society, came from a meeting held Tuesday last week at the Powderhorn Chateau. Those at the meeting felt there was a need for coordination and centralised promotion of events and that the initiative should be community based. The aims are set down as: • To assist in theorganisation, promotion and staging of events in the Ohakune and surrounding areas. • To promote Ohakune and the wider area as "the tourist destination" for the future. • To assist in the facilitation of initiatives that will contribute to the advancement«of Ohakune and the wider area. • To acquire, hire, contract and provide assets and facilities to meet those objectives. Officers are: John McCarthy, chairman; Stephanie Rollinson, secretary; Trish Smart, treasurer; Glenys Shepherd, retailers' representative; Murray Swan, non-retail-ers' representative. Mr McCarthy said he was delighted to be chosen as the inaugural chairman and felt that with the support of the community such a group had the potential to be really positive for the area. On the map "Just think of the Martinborough Wine and Food Fair or the Queenstown annual festival and what events like them have done for their districts. They've well and truly put them on the map." "And those initiatives and others like them have all started from humble beginnings such as this." Membership subscription is $ 1 0, and members are to be sought from throughout the community. "The only way something like this is going to work is if the community gets behind it and takes hold of the idea," said Mr McCarthy. "Otherwise the initiative becomes yet another in a succession of well-intentioned but disparate organisations. A co-ordinated approach is the key to the successful selling of any product and this is the aim of this group — to sell the benefits of Ohakune and to ensure that it is the local community which reaps the benefits." The group meets next on Monday 1 7 February at 7.30pm at the Powderhorn Chateau, to start planning for the carrot festival and mardi gras. Mr McCarthy urged anyone interested in being involved to attend.