No one who visited Wairoa for the A and P Show in the past week could have been anything other than impressed by the town and the show, as the sun blazed down on its final day on Saturday. There's something about driving into the riverside on such a fine day and crossing the bridge which somehow seems to represent a new Wairoa - an arched bridge opened by the Queen on February 7, 1990, to replace the flatter, more-traditional structure built to replace the previous bridge which had been destroyed by the river and its flotilla of logs banked up against the piers by the unforgettable Cyclone Bola in March 1988.
And there's something else yet again about the country town's appeal at the showgrounds where a quite mammoth voluntary undertaking was going on. It is Wairoa's biggest event of the year, staged as it has been for well over a century to draw the town and country together. Ironically, the only people there to make money - as opposed to the society needing money to make sure the showgrounds are still there for next year's show - are mainly traders who go from show to show and gala to gala, and some local organisations given their chance to sustain their charitable coffers. There are many examples of the volunteer capacity, but one to highlight is society president Dave Martin rolling in with a tractor to pick up the wool bales moments after the end of one of the show's features, the shearing competitions. No pin-stripe suit nor corporate box for this president, who, judging from the sound system blaring in the distance, could have been more dutifully obliged to be on hand with the special guest of the day, TV personality and geographical interloper Te Radar. As a gateway to both Hawke's Bay and the East Coast, Wairoa has much more going for it than is suggested by the town's less savoury moments over the years. It, also, is unforgettable.
