Latest news with #WheelsatWānaka
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
‘Brand new' event coming next year
Despite having to justify the Easter influx of 65,000 visitors, Wheels at Wānaka general manager Allan Dippie intends to bring to town another event in 2026. In April, Wheels at Wānaka brought in its biggest crowd and Wānaka's biggest crowd in one day to an event, with 50,000 visitors on the Saturday of the long weekend. The flood of people to town meant roads were blocked and some inconvenienced locals took to Facebook pages airing their concerns about traffic lines. While some locals complained about being held up, the event brought in millions to the local economy and businesses across town reeled in record sales. Still, post-event, the Queenstown Lakes District Council approached Mr Dippie to explain why the event exceeded the predicted numbers and why nothing was done about limiting those coming to the event. The event caused extreme traffic congestion on Wānaka roads during the long weekend, which upset some locals, despite the event being announced two years in advance. Mr Dippie and his events team had predicted about 45,000, going by previous years. "There has been a bit of a discussion about Wheels at Wānaka from the council. "Since the event, council sent us a 'please explain' email and started getting a bit toey about things and threatening possible enforcement action. I think one of the local councillors might have been the driving force behind the email." This is in reference to Wānaka councillor and deputy mayor Quentin Smith, who has been vocal about traffic congestion around the show. Mr Dippie wrote back to the council, explaining that the wet weather forecast over Easter had meant much of the crowd showed up to the Saturday event, and so crowds were not evenly spread. The event did not account for the huge number of children with their parents, he said. "They wanted to know how we were planning on stopping so many coming, which is kind of not possible with a family event of this nature. "We had over 50,000 people in one day, which has never been seen in Wānaka before and probably not likely to be seen again for a long time. "People were being rarked up on Facebook by one of the local councillors," he said. While Mr Dippie has taken an apologetic approach to the traffic issues, he is also very pleased with how the event turned out and has labelled it a huge success. "I think council might be out of step with people at times but in general events are great things and the community welcomes them." He said most of the businesses he spoke to in town had broken record sales over the Easter weekend. The council accepted Mr Dippie's explanation and will not be taking matters any further with any sort of prosecution or investigation. A spokesperson said the event was a welcome boost to local hospitality and retail businesses. "Wheels at Wānaka in particular attracted many people to town. We're certainly aware of the heavy traffic which caused disruption in the township and roads leading into it at peak times. Wheels at Wānaka's organisers confirmed beforehand that this would be their last event. "In general, council considers the requirements of all events regarding their demand for services and potential impact on local infrastructure such as roading as part of each resource consent application." The council added that Warbirds Over Wānaka, which is held every second Easter, was likely to attract the same number of people next year, but its location at the Wānaka airport would mean less inconvenience in town. "Events of all sizes continue to be important economic drivers for the Upper Clutha and our district as a whole." The Wheels at Wānaka event is run by the Wheels at Wānaka Charitable Trust and donates its surplus back into the community each year, across several community focused groups. The trust would be announcing the recipients later this month and at this stage things were looking very positive for record community donations, Mr Dippie said. "You can imagine the trust getting fined by the QLDC and incurring legal costs would have would not have gone down so well, so I'm glad common sense has prevailed." Mr Dippie confirmed he was in the early planning stages of a 2026 event for the town but was tight-lipped about what that would be. "We are not easily put off and I do encourage council to not put others off and actually encourage events. You don't want to be the council that makes it hard for events. "We will be announcing a future event but a different type of event. The community should be standing by for something brand new, next year, another event, 2026. "We always said we would try to do new and different things."
Otago Daily Times
11-05-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Ideas for asset fund sought
The Wānaka Upper Clutha Community Board is calling for bold ideas from the community on how to spend over $4 million in asset funds. The board had its monthly meeting on Thursday and began discussing what the community plans to do with its asset funds. Ideas and issues around event management, traffic control, transport and social infrastructure were brought forward by both board members and local organisations. The asset sales reserve is currently about $4 million but is expected to grow substantially once the board sells land in Ironside Dr. Improving event management was a key topic, especially following the success of Wheels at Wānaka. The event held over Easter weekend brought record numbers of visitors to Wanaka as it sold over 60,000 tickets, causing severe traffic congestion. Board member Linda Joll voiced her concern that traffic management was unable to accommodate the growth of events in the region. "I felt like there was no traffic management plan or a very inadequate one," she said. Oliver Harcus, spokesman for pride group Out and About, spoke during the public forum and further expressed the need to improve event capacity in Wānaka. Mr Harcus focused on the increasingly limited capacity of the Lake Wānaka Centre, saying the building was a better fit for meetings rather than events. "Is this an attractive place to hold an event?" he said. He used the Festival of Colour as an example, saying it would have been hard for the festival to make money as its ticket sales were limited by the building's capacity of about 500 people. Mr Harcus also argued the building did not reflect the diversity of the town nor was it adequately accessible for someone with a disability. Queenstown Lakes District Council arts and events relationship manager Jan Maxwell said the region held more events than any other district of the same size. "We're not matching that need ... I do know it has its limitations," she said. Ms Maxwell, alongside a team from the council, presented a draft of the event policy review which promised to work on streamlining event services. This would include a single point of entry for anyone wishing to book a space for an event. Chairman Simon Telfer said the board was encouraging bold and large ideas that would be valuable to the community. He said this could include a new performance arts centre, potentially a sports fields and an artificial turf. Aside from event management social infrastructure, the board also heard from Electrify Wānaka, a local group advocating for the town to be powered by electricity rather than gas or petrol. The final recommendation on what to spend the asset fund on will be shared with the council in November while discussing the region's long-term plan.
