Whanganui Walls Street Art Festival has been cancelled Photo / Jesse King
Whanganui Walls Street Art Festival has been cancelled Photo / Jesse King
Major Whanganui events are being cancelled or postponed in the wake of coronavirus, including this coming weekend's Whanganui Walls Street Art Festival and accompanying Walls of Sound music festival.
Limits on public gathering numbers and travel restrictions are making it logistically near-impossible for many events to run.
Both the Whanganui Walls and Walls of Sound festivals announced the two events would be postponed until next year.
Walls of Sound organiser Anthonie Tonnon said the decision was inevitable.
"I think everyone can see that the situation is moving really quickly," he said.
Whanganui Walls Street Art Festival operations manager Simon Ormerod said four out of the five international artists would not be making it to the city.
Whanganui Walls operations manager Simon Ormerod is keen to see the festival back at full strength next year Photo / Bevan Conley
"They would obviously have had to self-isolate for two weeks, and that just wouldn't have worked," Ormerod said.
"We've put in six months of hard work into this festival, and this decision was not taken lightly.
"This is a festival solely for the community, so to do something that could potentially put those same people at risk just doesn't make any sense."
Ormerod said both the street art and music parts of the festival will return next year.
"Hopefully the groundwork we laid this year will mean we can return at full strength in 2021.
"We want it to be the absolute best festival it can be, something different, and something new."
Project Marton coordinator Cath Ash has been forced to cancel the Marton Harvest festival Photo / Laurel Stowell
This weekend's Marton Harvest Festival has also been canned.
"It's been such a hard decision to make," Project Marton coordinator Cath Ash said.
"For Project Marton, our events are big, but most importantly we strive for community development and we run workshops and things, so we want to be able to get those back up and running as soon as we can.
"We need to be really careful, and we need to protect our community and those around us."
Ash said the impact of the Covid-19 threat was something the area hadn't encountered before.
"It's like this giant tentacle spreading out.
"Everyone from artists, to contractors, to coordinators have been affected, and at times like these it's up to everyone to work together to see the back of this thing."
The Royal Whanganui Opera House has been forced to cancel the upcoming performance by the Soweto Gospel Choir due to travel restrictions.
UCOL Whanganui has cancelled the graduation ceremonies that were planned to start on Tuesday.
Meanwhile the fate of other events are still up in the air.
Whanganui Artists Open Studios, set to run for just over a week from this weekend was to be decided after a trust meeting on Tuesday night.
American artist Pat Perry's 2019 mural of Edith Collier remains in place on Ridgway St, Whanganui Photo / Bevan Conley
Trust chairman Neil Buddle said nothing had been confirmed as yet.
"All we can say right now is that the opening function might not be taking place, and maybe some of the accompanying events as well."
The upcoming Whanganui Rugby Tasman Tanning Premier Club season is still due to start on schedule, with the first round kicking off on the March 28.
Chief executive officer of Whanganui Rugby, Bridget Belsham, said players' health was the most important thing in this situation, and guidelines laid out my the Ministry of Health and New Zealand Rugby would be adhered to.
"We are hopeful the club rugby will kick off as planned, but at the end of the day it's just a rugby game, and we don't want to put people's lives at risk.
"Super Rugby has already been postponed, so there's obviously a chance a similar thing could happen to the smaller unions around the country."
Belsham said the public should continue to check the Whanganui Rugby social media for the latest updates.
The weekly Whanganui River Market on March 21 is still scheduled to go ahead, as is the Castlecliff Beach Market the following day. Organisers of both events stated on social media pages that any rules and restrictions will be followed if enforced.
The Cleveland Funeral home has announced they will be offering a free livestreaming service to family members and loved ones who face travel restrictions.
Owner Laura Cleveland said they were working alongside other agencies to ensure they are continually updated and equipped to provide the best care for the community.
