Will Johnston. Photo/George Novak
The annual Omokoroa No.1 School Ride-on Lawnmower Race Day and Gala was on again last Sunday, and it didn't disappoint.
There's a bunch of crazy buggers racing these massively modified ride-on mowers in full racing suits and helmets around a school field in semi-rural Bay of Plenty. They raised over
$43,000 for the school on the day with all of the gala activities. One of the racers had a full Cookie Monster racing helmet! There was a spruced-up mobility scooter that
had fire coming out the back of itdoing a few laps of the track.
There were people dressed in medieval costumes that you could pay to beat with a spongey stick/sword thingy until they pretended to be dead. AND there was possibly the best venison burger I've had in my life on offer for merely more than the cost of a coffee!
But none of that really made the day for me ...
My day was made when I heard about some of the Year 6 students making items to sell at the gala. They sourced products and materials, came up with ideas, marketed them to the school and sold them in individual stalls on the day. Then they get to keep the money and decide as a year-group what they would do with it.
