Surf ‘n’ Sand Autorama at Pukehina School for second year

Stu Brickland and Kirsty Garrett are part of the team behind the Pukehina Surf 'n'Sand Autorama.

Last year saw one major change to the annual Pukehina Surf ‘n’ Sand Autorama — but any changes this year will be no more than tweaks.

A year ago, in the wake of Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, organisers had to hurriedly find a new venue for the fundraising event.

The previous two stagings had been at Midway Park at Pukehina Beach. The ground was too wet to host in 2022.

Pukehina School stepped in and this year the school is again the venue.

One feature of the event is its open invitation to anyone wanting to put their vehicle on display — which has also created its challenges.

Organisers were stunned by the turnout of vehicles last year, with the school field crammed to bursting.

“We were blown away by how many people who turned up, so we decided to get the paddock next door [for this year],” says organising group member Stu Brickland.

“Not only will we have more parking for people showing their cars and bikes and what have you, but we’ll also have a lot of parking for the public so they won’t have to park on the side of the road. It just makes it safer and easier to be able to park right next to the event.”

With a huge range of vehicles on show, entertainment, music, stalls and food, the formula is a winning one, so there is no need to change it.

“But we are expanding on what we’ve started and we’ve got a few new tricks up our sleeve for this year,” says Kirsty Garrett, another member of the organising team.

“We are so fortunate to have some amazing people to help us out.”

Crowds turned up their droves last year and Stu says that is testament to organisers making sure there is something for everyone.

“One of the secrets to the show is that we’re not just a car show, we’re not just a bike show, we really put a lot of effort into our food and craft stalls, things for the kids to do, entertainment, a tug of war. There will be a demonstration from the fire brigade so there’s a whole lot of facets to our show, rather than just turning up and looking at cars and bikes.

“It’s a beautiful area for picnics so people can bring their own food or buy food on site.”

Kirsty says the food stalls on site this year “will be absolutely outstanding”.

Although a little coy about divulging too much information, Stu says there will be some “cool specialist cars turning up, not just street rods and hot rods”.

Mazda RX7 drift car Lightning McKinnon owned by Luke McKinnon at Pukehina Autorama last year.

The Autorama started life as a fundraising event to contribute financially to Pukehina Volunteer Fire Brigade and Pukehina Beach Surf Rescue.

“The committee has decided the money is going to the fire brigade and surf club again because that’s the greatest need we see in the community,” says Stu.

The group also organises a poker run and funds from that went towards the painting of a mural on the side of Pukehina Fishing Club’s building.

The Autorama takes place on Saturday March 9 and is open to the public from 10am, with a voluntary gold coin donation entry.

“There’s never been a better time to support the surf club and the fire brigade, there’s been stuff in the media that just shows how much they don’t get from the Government and others, so they need everything they can get — so if you can afford a gold coin donation to come in, awesome,” says Stu.

Some, but not all, vendors will have eftpos, so Stu recommends having some cash in your pockets on the day.

Vehicles registration will be from 8am.

Pukehina School is at 1762 Old Coach Rd, Pukehina.