Cruise passengers from the MSC Magnifica return to a Napier city open for business on Friday. Photo / Paul Taylor
Cruise passengers from the MSC Magnifica return to a Napier city open for business on Friday. Photo / Paul Taylor
Hawke’s Bay leaders and businesses have one main plea for the rest of the country as the region picks itself up from Cyclone Gabrielle: Buy from Hawke’s Bay, for Hawke’s Bay.
Associate Minister for Cyclone Recovery Barbara Edmonds visited Napier and Hastings to chat with sectors and agencies affected by the wall of water that has destroyed livelihoods across the region.
After meeting with Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce CEO Karla Lee, Edmonds said she wanted to acknowledge the chamber and Hawke’s Bay’s local business associations for stepping up to help the government distribute business recovery funds.
She said buying local to support local was the “number one message”.
“Napier and Hawke’s Bay is open for tourists and we want to be able to see that.”
Tukituki MP Anna Lorck said there was a discussion between Edmonds, the Chamber of Commerce and herself about how to attract people back to the region and how to support business.
“We know that there is a challenge with State Highway 5, but we know that there are a lot of people that can come up south to Hawke’s Bay,” Lorck said.
“Hawke’s Bay has fantastic resilience and we will get there.”
Hawke’s Bay is one of seven regions eligible for $25 million in recovery support to businesses affected by Cyclone Gabrielle and the January floods in the North Island.
Farmers, growers, and whenua Māori owners significantly affected by Cyclone Gabrielle can apply for support from a separate $51 million MPI recovery fund.
Lorck said there had been more than 1000 applications in Hawke’s Bay for recovery support from small and medium enterprises (businesses with fewer than 50 full-time equivalent employees) after Cyclone Gabrielle.
She said it was key for people to know that Hawke’s Bay was resilient, and that growers were still able to export some of their stock.
“Half the orchards will still be harvested and exported.”
Harvest underway at the Rockit Stock Road apple orchard on February 18, a few days after Cyclone Gabrielle.
Photo / Kirsten Simcox
Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said the best thing people could do this weekend to support Hawke’s Bay business hit by Cyclone Gabrielle was to go to the Hawke’s Bay Farmers’ Market at Hastings Civic Square on Sunday to support growers.
“I know that both our vegetable growers and who attend the farmers market every week have been hit very hard in the Esk Valley and some of our avocado growers and some of our other produce growers have been hit really hard through the cyclone,” Hazlehurst said.
“We’re here and we are open for business and we are grateful to people making such an effort to get their businesses back up and running because it helps to support our economy, to keep our people employed and to return to some sort of normality.”
Local grower Marian Hirst of Bay Blueberries told Hawke’s Bay Today earlier that the markets were a good way to support growers going through challenging times.
“For the community that might think ‘we can’t do anything to help’, this is something you can do. Come out and buy some artisan products and support local growers that way.”
Hospitality business have been on the frontlines when it comes to feeding and supporting people during the flood cleanup, but they will need some help themselves.
Aaron and Rhonda Bartlett’s Patangata Tavern is now beginning to see something like a return to normality, thanks to support from locals.
“It’s understandably a slow recovery into our game down here, people are obviously busy,” Aaron Bartlett said.
“We’ve got our regular faces popping back in and last Friday night [March 3] was a semi-normal night.”
The MSC Magnifica on Friday, with a capacity for more than 3000 passengers, was the first cruise ship to visit Napier Port since the Viking Mars visited a month ago, just before Cyclone Gabrielle
A Napier Port spokesman said a tourist pamphlet was updated to provide context for cruise visitors about Cyclone Gabrielle and its impact on the region, along with a donation link to the HBRC Flood Relief Fund.
Countdown this week announced a more than $750,000 package of support for Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne growers including $700,000 ring-fenced for cash grants and a $50,000 donation to Rural Support Trust.
They also committed to not ending any growing agreements with growers in affected areas because of disruption from Cyclone Gabrielle, helping their affected growers mitigate increased costs of doing business from Cyclone Gabrielle and specifically promoting Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne growers’ produce in stores and online.
