Fendalton Flower Show on the North Shore
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