Awanui's "Flox" mural outside the Awanui Dairy, created by local artist Hayley King (right) with assistance from Pierre and Sheree Wagner.
Awanui's "Flox" mural outside the Awanui Dairy, created by local artist Hayley King (right) with assistance from Pierre and Sheree Wagner.
Awanui’s huge efforts to revitalise itself have paid off after it was named the Most Beautiful Tiny Town in the country at the Keep New Zealand Beautiful Awards.
The accolade was given to a contingent from Awanui who attended the annual awards on Thursday night in Wellington. They did, however, miss out on scooping the Best Loo category, in which they were also finalists.
Awanui, which has a population of less than 400 people, beat Leigh, north of Auckland, in the Tiny Town category. The town came out top partly thanks to its beautification projects and community pride.
The Te Hiku toilet block at Awanui was one of two finalists in the Keep New Zealand Beautiful Awards' Best Loo category, but it lost out. Photo / Mike Dinsdale
The award win comes five days after the town celebrated itself in its annual Awanui Day. The celebration is built around the Northland Riders’ Motorcycle Club’s Treble T Poker Run to Cape Rēinga, when up to 600 bikes take part.
Keep New Zealand Beautiful CEO Heather Saunderson commended the Te Hiku Revitalisation project for reinvigorating Awanui not only for its local residents but also for the many visitors it receives as the “Nexus to the North”.
The Te Hiku Open Spaces Revitalisation Project got $7 million Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) funding, which was also spent revitalising Kaitāia and Ahipara with 81 infrastructure, art and placemaking plans. A key focus of the project was to bring together community groups and businesses, and to place Te Hiku iwi at the centre of the decision-making process to ensure the right projects were delivered to the right places.
The beautification projects, which include mural paintings, carvings and the upgrade of many local facilities and attractions, highlight the pride the Awanui community takes in its heritage and local environment, Saunderson said.
Awanui welcomes visitors, and that congeniality has seen it win the title of the Most Beautiful Tiny Town in the country. Photo / Mike Dinsdale
The judges were very impressed with the community support and the amount that has been achieved in the town, which is the gateway to Ninety Mile Beach and Cape Rēinga.
This is this first time the awards have celebrated the tiny towns of New Zealand, which have populations of less than 999 residents.
Saunderson said they received a number of nominations for some of New Zealand’s smallest towns and wanted to give them an opportunity to be recognised for the hard work they do via the new award category.
Awanui representatives at the award ceremony could not be contacted for comment. However, when the nominations were announced, Kaitāia Business Association member Andrea Panther, who was one of the main drivers behind the Te Hiku Open Spaces Revitalisation Project, said the two nominations were a reward for all the hard work the town and its community have done over the past few years to give Awanui a much-needed boost.
Panther said Awanui had once been a thriving and bustling town, but in recent years it had become tired-looking and in need of some major work, so it was important the revitalisation project got the PGF funding.
Awanui is adept at celebrating its history. These panels are a feature on SH1 through the town, part of a recent revitilisation project that has seen it crowned the Most Beautiful Tiny Town in the country in the annual Keep New Zealand Beautiful Awards. Photo / Mike Dinsdale
“Awanui is now becoming a destination place and the new park is just abuzz with families on the weekend, with people stopping and having lunch there. It’s really got the town humming and the locals are loving the extra visitors.”
Also on Thursday at the awards, Karen Lee, from Whangārei, was one of three people to receive a Young Legend Award for outstanding volunteers. The judges said the three exceptional individuals have demonstrated remarkable leadership and outreach in their community through work in one or more of the following areas; litter prevention, waste reduction, recycling promotion and community beautification.
Meanwhile, Taupō won the Supreme Towns and Cities Award; Tauranga was named Most Beautiful Large City; New Plymouth was Most Beautiful Small City; Whakatāne was the Most Beautiful Large Town and Arrowtown was named as Most Beautiful Small Town - an award previously won by Kaitāia.
