After four years' effort, permissions are in place to install a sculpture of a famous New Zealand poet in a Wanganui street.
Meetings with Wanganui District Council began in 2011. Event organiser Elise Goodge has agreed to keep the project moving.
James K. Baxter spent much of the last two years of his life living in a commune of young people at Hiruharama/Jerusalem on the Whanganui River. He wrote many poems about that time.
Installing his slightly larger-than-life sculpture now has the support of his surviving family and permission from Wanganui's public art steering committee, the council's roading and infrastructure people, the council's arts and heritage people and Mainstreet Wanganui.
Mainstreet were keen from the start, Ms Goodge said.
The public art steering committee took the longest to convince - 10 meetings in total.
The council has apologised for the length of time the permissions have taken. The last one was given in 2014, but then there was confusion about whether a licence was needed to occupy public land. Last month, it was confirmed no licence was needed for a public artwork gifted to the city.
Now what's needed is $100,000 for a body to go with the head made by Wanganui sculptor Joan Morrell.
She's the only sculptor Baxter sat for and was a friend of his. Her completed sculpture is to be placed at the corner of Wicksteed and Guyton Streets, heading downhill, where Mrs Morrell last saw the man she called "Jim".
"The sculpture is kind of like her last visual memory of him."
Getting it done is urgent, because Mrs Morrell is not well.
Ms Goodge doesn't think it will be hard to find the money. She's making applications, planning a publicity campaign and will try for crowd funding.
"One-hundred thousand dollars sounds like a lot but, in terms of public art works, it's not too bad. They can be anywhere between $160,000 and more than a million."
Installing the sculpture is just the start of the project. The next stage will be a poetry trail from the sculpture all the way to Hiruharama, where Baxter is buried. The result will be "a literary tourism product" taking a whole day.
Ms Goodge said people wanted it.
"There's a lot of interest outside Wanganui, as well. Nowhere is there a public acknowledgement of James K. Baxter."