Similarly, John and Jill Worthington had arrived from Auckland's North Shore on Tuesday night, getting their motor home across the Napier-Taupo Highway before it was blocked by fallen trees and, despite the news, sticking to the plan of staying until at least late Monday.
They have his son and family, and friends from Tauranga heading for Napier regardless.
While the inter-city railcar ride had been cancelled, they were hopeful the vintage car tour booking would still be able to be met, and looking forward to getting to what smaller-scale events are still able to be held, and seeing the 4-year-old grandson "get into it".
Graham Thomas, a New Zealand Motor Caravan Association custodian, said that while the numbers of mobile homes in town would be well short of a normal Art Deco Festival, there were 90 in the associations Eriksen Rd park between Te Awa and Meeanee – about double the number that had been there at the weekend.
The arrival of many more depended on the Covid-19 alert status, highlighted by latin and tango dance promoter Joe Tango, who within seconds of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's mention of magic words "level 1" had confirmation that Auckland troupe Tango Passion would be on their way without the travel limitations that would have kept them away.
His events at 1916-built Louis Hay Marine Parade landmark No 39 will go head, including its 'Down Argentine Way – Tango Malonga'.
They were all stories Art Deco Trust chairperson and former Napier Mayor Barbara Arnott says she, the trust and staff "want to hear."
The consensus was that the late-Tuesday decision to cancel the festival was the correct one considering all parties and partners for what she calls a "million-dollar festival" for the trust, and one which was said to bring about $15 million into the Hawke's Bay economy, the last time anyone did the counting.
"It's becoming clearer and clearer that for all our contractors we could not have held off for another day before making a decision," she told Hawke's Bay Today. "We could not gamble with other people's livelihoods."
In a statement just after 5pm today, she said: "We know people will be asking why we couldn't have waited till the Prime Minister's announcement late this afternoon. But the reality is that the Festival involves hundreds of events and event venues, with tens of thousands of festivalgoers over five days. A festival of this scale requires massive logistics and set-up in the days prior."
Level 2 restrictions had already forced cancellation of the first two days and at the time the trust decision was made it was affecting the set-up process, she said.
"Any prospect of trying to run the festival under prolonged level 2 meant many events could not have gone ahead. "We simply didn't have the luxury of time to wait and see what today's announcement would bring.
Timing was everything, and in this instance, time wasn't on our side."
A big winner was Shadow Cat Tailoring and Pre-Loved proprietor and clothing designer Fiona Le, whose business won the Napier City Business Art Deco Award, from a field of 25 entries and just four weeks after opening in the CBD.
Le, from Vietnam and having moved to Hawke's Bay with her husband two years ago, had been operating from home, but rapid growth determined a move into the city where, as part of the operation, it sells on-behalf no-longer-need wedding dresses and other clothing.
Countering the lockdown last year, she began producing reusable masks, woke up one morning to find 500 overnight orders, and sold 3000 in two weeks, and since opening has been inundated with items to market, much of it in the fashion of the Art Deco era.
