Zombie Hayley Henwood, vampire Melissa Stratford and mummy Paige Naylor during last year's Halloween trail in Kawakawa. PHOTO / PETER DE GRAAF
Zombie Hayley Henwood, vampire Melissa Stratford and mummy Paige Naylor during last year's Halloween trail in Kawakawa. PHOTO / PETER DE GRAAF
A weekly round-up of news snippets, events and oddities from the Bay of Islands and around the Mid North.
Kawakawa will again be invaded by zombies, witches, ghosts and monsters when the town repeats its highly successful trick-or-treat trail on Friday, October 31.
Chevy Taylor, of Kawakawa's Central Butchery, came up with the idea last year because some parents were afraid to let their children go door-knocking at strangers' homes.
Setting up a trick-or-treat trail in town created a safe environment for the kids to dress up and let local businesses give something back to the community, she said. More than 300 children in 80 groups took part last year.
Children who want to take part must have a costume and parental supervision. They also have to register and pick up a trail card at Central Butchery from 3pm.
The event runs from 4-5.30pm. Participating businesses will be clearly marked.
As well as the usual ghosts and ghouls, last year's trick-or-treaters came dressed as Lego blocks, clowns, princesses and pirates.
Don't forget It!
If you're at a loose end this weekend don't forget the It! Festival at Paihia's Village Green on Saturday featuring legendary 1990s band Supergroove as the main act.
The boutique food and wine festival also offers plenty of local delicacies such as kina sucking, oyster shucking and pie-eating contests. Support bands are the Funky North (Kaikohe) and Scarlett Fever (Kerikeri).
Legendary 1990s band Supergroove, fronted by Che Fu and Karl Steven, is playing at Paihia's It! Festival this weekend. PHOTO / PETER DE GRAAF
If you're wondering why Kerikeri has been invaded by scarecrows, it's all part of the build-up to the 2014 Garden Safari.
Kerikeri shops and businesses compete each to see who can make the best scarecrow with the winner chosen by popular vote (you can cast your vote at Kerikeri New World).
The Garden Safari is Kerikeri Rotary Club's biggest fundraiser of the year and attracts garden lovers from as faraway as Auckland. This year's trail, on the weekend of November 1-2, features 17 all-new gardens from Waipapa in the north to Pakaraka in the south.
Tickets are $25 from gardensafari.co.nz, Kerikeri New World, Shoestyles (Kerikeri and Paihia), Kwan's Garden Creations, Kerikeri Pharmacy and Redwoods Garden Centre.
Proceeds go to community and youth development projects. More details next week.
Flower show
Kerikeri Garden Club welcomed the return of (mostly) better weather with its Spring Flower Show held at the Turner Centre on Friday and Saturday. Winners included Pat Waters with the show champion, a Leucospermum which also won the flowering shrub category; and Ngawini Pepene, who entered a flower judged the champion bloom.
Ayla Buxton with her vegetable animals (poodles made from broccoli and cauliflower with a carrot bowl) and brother Devon with his shell arrangement (a dinosaur called a styracosaurus). Photo / Peter de Graaf
As always, many children took part in a range of crafty competitions, with Kerikeri siblings Ayla and Devon Buxton doing especially well. Ayla, 6, came first in the vegetable animal contest with a pair of poodles made from broccoli and cauliflower; while Devon, 8, won the shell arrangement challenge with his styracosaurus (a type of dinosaur).
'Angel' rewarded
Four years of doing the laundry and making up bunks has been rewarded with a volunteer award presented to Russell woman Liz Greening.
Nicknamed "Our Angel" by members of the R Tucker Thompson Sail Training Trust, Mrs Greening arrives shortly after the tall ship returns to port from its regular youth voyages and helps clean the sheets, pillow-cases, tea towels and towels so the ship is ready for its next trip.
With just a two-day turnaround between each seven-day voyage the pressure is on to strip the bunks, put through up to six loads of washing and drying, then prepare bunks for the next group of trainees, executive Trustee Jane Hindle said.
"It's hugely appreciated because it enables the crew to get home to have a couple of days off between voyages. We've all taken turns at getting the laundry done but it's a lot of extra hours on top of our normal busy workload."
Mrs Greening was presented with the Tucker-Lewis Volunteer Award, a scrimshaw trophy awarded annually to the individual who had made the most significant contribution to the trust.
The Te Wahapu resident started volunteering for the trust after an "absolutely magical" six-day history trip around the Bay of Islands.
Fishing contest
A long-running rivalry between two drinking establishments will be tested once again this weekend in the annual Big Balls Fishing Competition.
The contest, now in its 18th year, pits patrons of Kerikeri's Homestead Tavern against their rivals at the Kerikeri RSA.
About 30 boats with 60 anglers are expected to take part with a top prize of $1000 up for grabs. The trophy, made from a pair of wooden bed posts, somehow survived the fire which destroyed the Homestead in 2001.
Don't forget the inaugural Kerikeri Open Art Studios Trail (Koast) being held over Labour Weekend.
Fifty artists are throwing open their studios at 31 locations to give the public a rare glimpse of their work and creative processes. The trail also features five guest artists, some of whom are internationally recognised.
Find out more at www.koast.org.nz. Trail booklets are available for $5 at Ray White, Harcourt's, Real, Possum Trendz, Paper Plus and Country Corner.
Harold needs help
The Life Education Trust is calling on Mid Northerners to join its team in the upcoming Kerikeri Half Marathon as well as volunteers to drive its truck around Bay of Islands schools.
The trust is entering a team in the half marathon for the third year in a row and is looking for more runners and walkers. The trust will cover participants' entrance fees in exchange for a pledge of a minimum $200 of fundraising. Contact Diane Henderson on 021 407 015 or dianesh50@gmail.com.
The trust also needs HT drivers for term four in the Paihia, Kerikeri and Russell area. Contact Bridget Harvey on 027 477 4800 or farnorth@lifeed.org.nz. The trust provides health and life skills education in primary schools.
Lively night
If you're looking for a lively night out, you could do worse than Russell this Friday when the fastest boats in the Coastal Classic yacht race are due to arrive (wind permitting).
Competitors leave Auckland at 9.30am and arrive any time between Friday afternoon and Saturday night. More than 150 boats are taking part including the record-holding trimaran Team Vodafone Sailing, the super-light Australian trimaran Morticia, and high-performance maxi yachts Giacomo and Beau Geste.
Russell is famously raucous on race night. You have been warned.
A former manager at Kerikeri Mission Station, Emma Godwin, is now doing something a little racier in Wellington.
The director of Katherine Mansfield House, Ms Godwin has put together an exhibition called The Bodice Ripper: Katherine Mansfield, from decorum to decadence featuring corsets made by costume students and Victorian undergarment collections from Te Papa.
"Mansfield tore apart societal expectations of Victorian womanhood ... Her social and sexual behaviour was challenging and we've used Victorian underwear to explore this theme," she said.
Visitors can find out first-hand what it was like to be a woman in the Victorian era by trying on a corset and bustle. Katherine Mansfield House is the former home of New Zealand's most acclaimed short story writer.
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