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Thousands flock to annual gala

 

WORDS & PHOTOS BY JULIA WADE

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Under a big blue sky, carnival fun rides, tasty cuisine and a vast range of colourful art and craft greeted eager crowds at the recent 2019 Mangawhai Domain Society (MDS) annual festival gala, held on January 2


With over 200 stallholders offering a massive array of goods including gardening sculptures, groovy ‘70s-style beaded hangings, fairy dresses, cryptic comedic signage, face painting, dog shows, sight-seeing via helicopter and allegedly the world’s tallest inflatable water ride, the estimated 7000 visitors were spoilt for choice. 

First-time gala coordinator Robert de Koning says despite having a delayed start in preparing the event, the day turned out to be enjoyable and successful. 

“Overall we still managed a good result,” he says. “The gala committee were happy to see a great public turnout, a huge amount for a Northland public event and, based on the preliminary financial report, we expect to have had approximately a similar amount of visitors as previous galas and slightly more stallholders.” 

It was ‘not 100 per cent’ however, Koning says. Undoubtedly a number of punters would have been gasping for a morning coffee, but an unfortunate mechanical breakdown with one vendor and a communication error with another, led the gala to being caffeine free this year. 
“It was a pity there were no coffee stalls… we’ll have three next year!”

Koning stepped up to the daunting task of gala coordinator as late as mid-November, taking over from Carol Parkes who resigned from the role last year but was happy to be on hand to support and guide her successor. 

“I feel it went really well… and it was good to see so much support from the community and visitors alike,” she says. “Along with the committee and community volunteers, it was great to be able to produce what has come to be a historical regular event which is very well received by the community and the many visitors we have at that time of year.”

The role required a lot more work than he expected, Koning says. 

“It was a big task to get all done within six-seven weeks… and something I am not going to repeat. Gala 2020 will start on time... with timely planning, preparation and ongoing volunteer support, it will be more do-able for me,” he says. “Both Carol and her husband Ross have supported me hugely… Carol’s key support role was handover and supporter to me which was imperative for the preparation and smooth running of gala on the day. Without their support we would not have been able to achieve what we did.” 

Koning is already thinking of improvements for next year including increasing the number of cold drink stalls and shaded covered seating areas which seemed ‘well appreciated by the public’, as well as improving on the recyclable rubbish bins that were started this year, with more areas for visitors to dispose of plastic, glass, tins and paper. 

“Together with Event Fun NZ we will work on an improved set-out for the events rides and have a few drinks and food stalls nearby due to the large amounts of queuing public. We will also have improved directional signage and stall information sheets.”

Planning for the following gala actually starts ‘post-gala day’ with a debriefing and listing of recommendations and improvements. From early October the work is full on.

“As the gala has grown over the years so has the role of the coordinator, a huge amount of hours are required to plan, administrate bookings, secure volunteer and sponsor support and prepare,” Koning says. “The committee wish to let public and stallholders know that we welcome your feedback, it will all be reviewed and used going forward to Gala 2020. Being able to properly plan, prepare and manage the next gala, we as committee are very confident it will be a great one.” 

An event the scale of the Domain Summer Gala can only be prepared and realised with the support of a huge amount of dedicated and committed volunteers and sponsors. The MDS gala committee would like to express their gratitude to the ongoing support of the volunteers.

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