An earlier Bark Up event at Beaumont Hotel in Otago. Video / ODT
While dealing with their own clean-up after Cyclone Gabrielle swept through Hawke’s Bay, Patangata Tavern owners Aaron and Rhonda Bartlett had to quickly make a decision regarding whether or not to continue with their Bark Up for Mental Health event.
Bark Up is an event set up by the Patangata Tavern to help awareness of rural mental health and support Farmstrong, a nationwide wellbeing programme for the rural community.
After everything everyone has gone through, Aaron says he feels it is still appropriate to go ahead with the rural mental health event, even if it is just to give people a few hours to come out and socialise with the community.
The Patangata Tavern copped a bit of flood damage out back, and the water just stopped short of coming into the house and the pub.
There is a lot of silt around the property, so Aaron was stuck on a digger for three days digging all the drains and ditches out.
Aaron said the tavern was “shut down for 10 days as the place was just a mess, with no power, no water, no Wi-Fi, so we just shut the doors, started cleaning up and got a hand from a couple of locals”.
“We got off pretty lightly compared to what we have seen around the place,” he said.
Patangata Tavern owner Aaron Bartlett spent a solid three days on a digger clearing slit from his home and pub after Cyclone Gabrielle hit the small central Hawke’s Bay community.
The bar re-opened last Friday - normally a busy night. The owners did not expect to “see a hell of a lot of people”, but there were a few in for dinner and some drinks.
“I think they just needed to come in and connect with each other,” Aaron said.
Since announcing the pub would continue with the event on March 18, the tavern has had quite a bit of positive feedback from local shepherds and shepherdesses who are still keen to attend.
In running a bar, the couple say they already act as psychologists, lawyers, counsellors and all sorts of things to all sorts of people, so they thought charging ahead with Bark Up would be a good opportunity, when the dust settles, for people to come out and have a bit of a release.
Although some people may not understand why the pub is going ahead with the event when people have lost so much, Aaron said the tavern is doing it for those who want to turn up and have a bit of fun for a few hours.
“It will be good, clean fun where the whole family can be involved,” Aaron explains.
Bark Up is a dog-based competition where entrants can bring along any type of dog and compete to see whose dog barks the loudest.
There will be two competitions - one for kids and one for adults. The tavern also has a microphone and a decibel reader and will measure the dogs’ barks and the crowd’s response.
People can get silly with it and have dogs walking backward or whatever, and it will all add up to putting your best foot forward on the stage and getting your dog to bark as loud as it can for around 30 seconds, says the event organiser.
Whoever has the loudest bark wins, and if your dog doesn’t bark, you have to.
Ten days of steady clean-up and Patangata Tavern is back up and running and ready for the Bark Up event after Cyclone Gabrielle hit Hawke’s Bay. Photo / Warren Buckland
The pub is outsourcing cooking for the day to local schools wanting to raise a bit of money, and there will be live music at the event.
When it comes to prizes, the business community has been awesome, says Aaron. There are thousands of dollars worth of prizes and cash prizes to be won.
Aaron says that while the Bark Up is going to be fun, there will also be a few people speaking on the importance of reaching out and checking on your personal mental health and that of others.
“Suicide is a very real issue for many. Personally, I have lost quite a few friends like that, and from the farming community as well,” Aaron says. “The suicide rate in the rural community is above the national trend for the average public.”
Aaron has been working with Farmstong while organising Bark Up and says they’ve been right behind Bark Up since the beginning and have shipped in boxes of prizes and giveaways.
The Bark Up for Mental Health will be held on March 18 at the Patangata Tavern.
The kid’s novelty event starts at 4pm, then the first bark will resound at 5pm. There will be spot prizes and raffles throughout the event.
