31 March 2010
"Fendalton Flower Show" to take place on the North Shore
North Shore will be the host city for a new flower show extravaganza to take place in the Auckland region, to compensate
for the loss to Christchurch of the Ellerslie Flower Show, says Mayor Andrew Williams
"We have come up with a brilliant marketing idea and will be calling it the Fendalton Flower Show, partly with tongue in
cheek as a recognition of that suburb's beautiful gardens and homes. However, unlike Christchurch which spent some $2
million buying the Ellerslie Flower Show, we are doing this very much as a low budget D.I.Y. 'grown your own' exercise"
says Mayor Williams.
"We also think that if it's good enough for Christchurch to use the name of the Auckland suburb of Ellerslie then we can
steal Fendalton off the 'garden city'. We are expecting to get a lot of visitors from all over New Zealand to this
spring show taking place over Labour Weekend in October as the final swan song for North Shore City before it goes out
of existence on 1 November 2010. But to be charitable, Cantabrians who come dressed in red and black will get in for
half price, so hopefully they won't feel too aggrieved."
"The Fendalton Flower Show will take place in the extensive natural Chelsea Estate Heritage Park at Birkenhead, and the
theme will be 'sustainable recycling in nature'. This will include using vegetables as a replacement for traditional
flower beds, worm farming and composting technologies in the new super city, as well as water detention techniques."
"A special feature of the show will be several sets of outdoor organic public toilets using a combination of lemon and
other citrus trees, rather than the usual rows of portaloos at such large public events. This will be a first for a
major event in New Zealand but has potential for many of the Rugby World Cup venues in 2011, as large numbers can be
accommodated using this sustainable method of providing natural sanitary facilities." says Mayor Williams.
"We hope that the super city will embrace this inspired North Shore initiative and the Fendalton Flower Show will become
an 'annual' feature on the Auckland and New Zealand horticultural calendar".
++Ends