I believe there is a need for a National New Zealand Vintage Tractor & Machinery Show.
There are many vintage clubs in NZ. There doesnt seem to be a coordinated show season with many shows clashing with others. As this hobby is gaining strength, I believe a National Show held every year or every second year would be a great event.
Every club should have one representative on a National Commitee, who in turn would decide where the national show would be held. Each club or group of clubs who wished to host it could lobby the committee with their proposal. A vote would be taken & so decided. I believe this is how the very sucessfull NHMA Rally (held every 2 years) in Australia is organised.
Maybe in NZ, it could alternate North & South Islands.
What do you think?
Good idea & every 2 years would be fine
This is a great idea. Good location would be Mystery Creek. Perhaps for two days leading into Fielddays. A day for comps and set up and a day for public to recoup costs. Might be a logistical nightmare but opportunity for sponsorship would be better. Also agree North and South Island share as there is some very different equipment in the South Island still to the North.
Why Mystery Creek?
Is that so Aickland people don’t have far to travel?
I think Mistery creek is a great venue , that’s why the field days are held there , and there are many other venues around the country like race tracks & show grounds, it would be good if people could suggest them here.
I belong to the franklin vintage machinery club and I think many of our guys would love an excuse to trek through the country to go to an event And I’m sure one of us wold be keen to be part of organising an event.
I will put this forward at our next meeting.
Scott
to your reply Cambridge is the place central for all Auckland,Rotorua,Taranaki,Tauranga and King Country its only 2 to 3 hours travelling from any of these places.
Good idea but an absolute must would be for the location to change each year. Each of a number of local clubs throughout the North and South Islands could take turns hosting the national show. This would avoid the problem of it always being the same people travelling a long distance every time they attended the show which would become prohibitively expensive for many.
Great idea. Love looking at the old machines.
Demo plot would be good also.
I agree that some coordination of club events is definitely needed. However my concern is how to avoid the biggest problem – similar moves in other interest groups has far too often lead to dissent with the few enforcing their rules and ideals on everyone else. As long as the ‘show coordinating group’ can stick to just that and leave each individual club or group to carry on for the rest of the year just exactly as they have done with their own rules and guidelines. NZ already suffers far too much from an ill informed minority running about scaring everyone by spouting .. health and safety this and that … when they don’t have the right or the knowledge.
The coordinating group needs to be forced to focus on coordination and growth and interaction at shows i.e. how to make it work with positives while actively working to remove the negatives. People are sick of paying to look at old men leaning on static displays behind ropes (or even worse high vis plastic fences), while these old men are still with us they need to be encouraged to show these displays working to create interest. It’s getting to be a struggle for many of them just to get their gear to a show, if you enforce extra rules or costs on them … they will stay home.
Sadly the cost of trailering a tractor across the strait with accommodation etc etc is way beyond the majority, so that alone is likely to be the big stumbling block with a National Event. For this reason I feel a far more workable option is to run a Nth Island and a Sth Island event individually but timed to allow the few who wish to cross the strait to be able to exhibit at both.
Coordination of shows with other similar interest groups in each region would be far more productive in my view. We’ve all heard the bitching “.. ** club have pinched our show weekend and that’s why attendance was down ..”
Again focus on removing the negativity or competition and work together to provide an even and seemless season of events coordinated among all similar groups who would likely be competing for the same attendance customers.
And lastly ‘in my opinion’ I would avoid Mystery Creek because of traffic, the weather (it rains most Mystery Creek events) and it’s just so far away from the majority of exhibitors and collectors. If you’re running a National Event why not have it alternatively in Wellington and Marlborough which are close to the centre of the country ??