Town celebrates Parapara lifeline

Indomitable and committed: Much loved Raetihi resident Jessie Seaman cuts the centennial cake.

LAST Saturday was a red letter day in Raetihi.

It was the day that celebrated the opening, 100 years ago, of the Parapara Rd, slashing travel time between Whanganui and Raetihi in half.

A parade of vintage cars and motorbikes wound up the sinuous Parapara roadway, arriving in Raetihi around 11.30am to a joyous, festive welcome.

Raetihi Promotions chairman Geoff Anderson said about 1000 people from throughout the Ruapehu District thronged the town's main street (Seddon St) cheering, screaming and clapping up a storm.

"It was a wonderful sight. The night before we had put up bunting and flags and in the morning set up dozens tables draped in white cloths and decorated with jars of flowers and [we] covered hay bales with blankets as extra seating," Mr Anderson said.

There were food stalls set up in the vet's carpark, selling everything from beautiful Raetihi pies to doorstop-sized sandwiches filled with hot-off-the-barbecue, melt-in-your-mouth slabs of pork, he said.

Leading the parade into town was a group of local horses, including draught horses and a horse and gig.

The centennial cake, depicting the Parapara Rd with the cars driving through, was cut by Jessie Seaman, a much loved Raetihi resident, aged 93, who never misses a community event.

Celebratory drive: Cars wind through the Parapara Rd, celebrating the centennial day. Photo/Sieska Verdonk

"She is a stalwart of this community who cooks and bakes for every stall, every fundraiser and even delivers sandwiches for the schoolboy rugby teams on Saturdays," Mr Anderson said.

Yesterday Mrs Seaman, who recently spent three months in hospital after a fall seriously damaged her neck, said Saturday was a marvellous day for the town.

She said she was cooking for a stall on Easter Sunday for the Raetihi Gutbuster race to raise funds for the Waimarino Museum.

"Our community is most important to me."

As well as jars of pickles, Mrs Seaman had made jars of strawberry and apricot jam and was planning to bake plenty of fruit loaves, sultana cakes and sponges.

It was no effort, she said. "I am as happy as Larry."

A newspaper story about the first trip through the Parapara in March 1917 said it was a severe test for the car.