Dannevirke’s Fantasy Cave on track to open in 2025

Dannevirke Chamber of Commerce members and Dannevirke Fantasy Cave Board members attended an After 5 event which updated progress on the town's Fantasy Cave.

The closure of Dannevirke’s Fantasy Cave was the most difficult decision, the attraction’s board chairman told members of Dannevirke Chamber of Commerce.

Members of the board had been invited to the chamber’s monthly “After 5″ gathering to give an update on the building of a new Fantasy Cave on the site of Mills Garage in Barraud St.

The cave was forced to close in May 2019 because it did not meet fire safety regulations.

As the owners of the building would not make the necessary safety upgrades, the board decided to rebuild.

Chairman Grant Hurrell said $1.1 million was needed to build the basic closed-in structure but a further $550,000 would be needed to put in the finishing touches such as bathroom fittings, gib stopping, decorating and floor coverings.

The board’s initial plan, drawn up by Hamish McIntyre, put the cost of the new premises at more than $3m, Hurrell said.

“We pulled the plug on that and went back to Hamish to redo the plan and that saved us $1.25m. It was hard work but we got there, thanks to Hamish’s help and the work of our project manager Bruce Johnson.”

Hurrell said demolition work would not begin on the site’s existing building until the board had all the money needed for the rebuild.

So far the board has spent many thousands of dollars on consents and consultants.

“We have paid for everything so far, we have no money outstanding and we still have money in the bank so we are very lucky,” Hurrell said.

“We expect to be debt-free when we open. We have said from the word go that we won’t go ahead until we have all the money for the rebuild and that’s why we are so proud of what we have achieved so far.”

He said the search for funding had to go through many stages.

“The first thing was to have a funding manager as none of us could do.”

Once that position was filled, applications could begin to start the funding process.

But in the meantime, the project has received generous local support to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars from companies, contractors and professionals within the community.

Board secretary Elizabeth Edwards said one thing the board had found out about the cave was that it was tried and tested.

“In the past week, I have had four inquiries about the cave, including one from a bus company. We are still known and that gives me great faith going forward.”

Outlining the history of the cave, Edwards said it started as a Santa’s Cave. It then began opening during school holidays, not just at Christmas, then on Saturday mornings as well.

“Our lowest attendance on a Saturday was three people on a cold frosty morning. Our champion year was when we had 17,000 through. But then the Manawatū Gorge closed and busloads of children were no longer coming over the hill.”

At that point ANZ had been leasing the building and sponsoring the cave but, when the bank’s lease came up for renewal, it closed and moved across the road.

“We had a week to get out but we managed to negotiate a lease and were able to stay on.”

With the decision made to rebuild the cave, the board was a charitable trust and an incorporated society.

“The members of the board probably didn’t know what they were signing up for at the time,” Edwards said.

Over the years the cave has been run totally by volunteers.

“We had 140 volunteers then but the number has since dropped alarmingly, as they have with other organisations.”

The project is on track to reopen the cave by mid-2025.

In the meantime, the popular Christmas Pop-Up will be run by the Fantasy Cave Board in the Fountain Theatre from December 9, when Santa will be in attendance.