A candle-lit vigil will be held on Main Mount Maunganui Beach at 7.20pm tonight.
Our lives have stood still since Jack was suddenly taken away from us on the 1 October 2014, and the pain of losing him is no less, nor will it ever be, and we continue to wake each day with heavy hearts. Jack was loved by all of those who knew him and we are also aware that through this tragedy Jack touched many more people's hearts. We will be holding a private minute's silence for Jack at 11.20am on 1 October 2015 to remember the happy, full of life boy we were blessed to have for 5 beautiful years. No matter where people are that day please feel welcome to send your thoughts to Jack at this time.
It might be a walk around the Mount or just a day at the beach that sparks the memory but October 1 will forever be etched into the minds of Mount Maunganui residents.
The day a tragedy brought an entire city together - the day 5-year-old Jack Dixon was swept out to sea, sparking a desperate search that stretched for weeks.
It was a Wednesday, beautifully sunny and people felt summer was on its way.
It was a king tide. The swell was unusually big and, when Jack's family stopped for one last photo of their day in Shelly Beach, they could never have imagined it would be the last treasured memory of their little boy.
Jack was standing on a rock with his two cousins, when a freak wave knocked them all from the rock.
The two girls were swept in the direction of the rocks and managed to clamber up, but Jack was nowhere to be seen and, in the blink of an eye, he was gone.
A rescue soon turned into a search. The public response was immediate and by that night hundreds of people had turned up to help in the search.
Candlelight vigil for at Mount Maunganui main beach on October 2, 2014
A surf lifesaver, a search and rescue co-ordinator, a local surfer, a diver and a policeman recall that day:
Leigh Sefton of Surf Life Saving New Zealand led a huge team of surf lifesavers through a tireless search.
Lifesavers rotated search teams from the moment the sun rose to the moment the sun set.
Leigh Sefton of Surf Life Saving New Zealand says he had never been part of a search of such a large scale. Photo/Andrew Warner
"I've been involved in a few searches over the years but nothing of that scale," Mr Sefton said.
Outside the club, local residents were arriving every minute to drop off food and supplies to the search teams.
"You've never seen so much food in all your life. It was unbelievable."
It was all anyone spoke of for a long time, he said.
"Certainly, everywhere I went at that time people were talking about it. I couldn't go anywhere without people giving a supportive word or asking about Jack and how the search was going." The outpouring of community support meant a lot to everyone, he said.
"I know the family certainly felt it and I know the guys searching felt it."
Nick Hume, chairman of Tauranga Search and Rescue, said he felt like it was quite a personal search for everyone involved.
"I think it's one of those searches people will remember for a long time, because of his age and because it was a freak accident and it could have happened to anyone out there on the day."
Tauranga Search and Rescue were called out to do shoreline searches around Mauao and Matakana Island on October 1 and for the week following.
About 25 Search and Rescue volunteers were involved and most had children a similar age to Jack, Mr Hume said.
"I think that's what made it hard ... any search for young kids is a drain on everyone."
Commercial diver Brendon Cappely took his team out for a day of searching on October 4.
"We have young kids as well, so you can understand what could happen, and we just just wanted to bring him home," he said.
"Every time you saw something unnatural on the sea floor you would take a breath and think 'have I found him?'. You'd expect to turn the next corner and find him.
Mr Morrison organised a mass paddle out at Mount Maunganui beach on October 5, as a way to show support for Jack's family. At the time, Mr Morrison was struck by his own tragedy when his wife Sarah was diagnosed with bowel cancer. He learnt you could walk down the street and never know what others were going through, so wanted to help the Dixon family however he could. Sarah passed away in May.
With expectations of between 30 and 50 people turning up for the paddle out, he was blown away when nearly 250 to 300 turned up and another 1000 watched from the beach.
Community paddle out for Jack Dixon.
The memorial was all the more special in the sea where Jack was taken, he said.
"They [Jack's family] were really lovely people, so it was pretty emotional meeting them. They were blown away with how many people turned up for it."
Since the tragedy, Mr Morrison never walks around the base track or heads out for a surf without thinking about Jack and his family.
"I think it's because we're New Zealanders. We grew up at the beach."
