Poppy sellers flood town and country

Poppy Day. Kevin Port and Raewyn Varhalamas will be selling poppies in the Tauranga CBD. Photo/Andrew Warner.

Today is Poppy Day and 40,000 red poppies are being handed out for sale around Tauranga streets.

The poppies will be on sale at schools and businesses, as well as at pop-up stalls and collectors on local streets.

Tauranga RSA event co-ordinator Veronica Egan has sold poppies on the street and been involved in Anzac commemorations for 20 years.

"I do this because it's a very special time to me, Anzac Day and Poppy Day," she said.

"When you stop to think about it, we wouldn't be where we are today if those guys hadn't gone overseas and did what they did for us."

Poppy Day at Tauranga RSA. Veronica Egan, Poppy Day coordinator for Tauranga RSA. Photo/George Novak

"It means a lot to me. I had an uncle that was up in the Guadalcanal who came back very ill when I was a young girl, he had redwater fever," said Mrs Egan.

"I had a great uncle who was in Passchendaele, and my husband was a return man too. So to me, [Poppy Day] is a special day."

Mrs Egan said 250 volunteers would take to the streets in groups today offering poppies to people in industrial and commercial areas around Tauranga.