GIANT CARROT DESTINED FOR OHAKUNE

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 2, Issue 1, 5 June 1984, Page 1

GIANT CARROT DESTINED FOR OHAKUNE

Ohakune market garden president Peter Hammond is expecting to bring a giant fibreglass carrot into the heart of 'carrot country'this week. The 25ft (7.6 metre) oversize replica of one of Ohakune's major vegetable products is soon likely to feature prominently in the town's landscape leaving no doubt that Ohakune is indeed the 'carrot capital' of New Zealand. A site in Rochfort Park beside SH49 (between the Town and Turoa Alpine Village) has been set aside by the Ohakune Borough Council and providing the borough engineer approves^ the structural drawings

being prepared by the market gardeners association, 'The Carrot' will be a reality. For more than two years — .ever since Peter Hammond first proposed the idea to a surprised and bemused meeting of fellow councillors at the Ohakune Borough Council — the local growers have been trying to find a practical solution to the problem of producing a giant all-weather carrot. And, just as they were about to put the proposal out to tender, the ANZ Bank in Wellington — which had had a carrot made for a television commercial — approached Peter Hammond with an offer of a free carrot that he could hardly refuse

since the only condition was that a small plaque acknowledging the donor should be placed nearby. Before travelling to Wellington last week to inspect the carrot Peter Hammond still had some doubts- about its suitability but on seeing it decided that it was "just right for the job and beyond my expectations." While for Peter Hammond and the Ohakune Growers Association this 7-metre carrot may be a 'dream come true' we have also heard from other readers of the Bulletin that it will be their worst nightmare realised. This latter group are talking of investing in a 10 -metre rabbit.