Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Flaxmere Park named New Zealand's active park of the year

By Shannon Johnstone
Hawkes Bay Today·
19 Jun, 2020 02:41 AM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Judges said every part of the park is constantly in use and commended the community input in its development. Photo / Supplied

Judges said every part of the park is constantly in use and commended the community input in its development. Photo / Supplied

Flaxmere Park has been named New Zealand's active park of the year in the 2020 NZ Park Awards run by Recreation Aotearoa.

Hastings District Councillor for Flaxmere and Hastings Ambassador Henare O'Keefe said he "got pretty emotional" when he found out.

Getting the park to where it is at, has been 10 years in the making, he said.

"This park has brought our community together, they all come here, even in winter. It's no ordinary park, it goes deeper than that – it's like a mother and father of our community."

The judges were impressed with the range of physical and social opportunities at the park and the community input which went into the park's development.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Every part of the park, from the cycleways to the splashpad, is constantly in use.

"The park shows the power of engaging your community in planning and delivering the space, ultimately ending up with a park for all," they said.

The park has a marked sports ground often used for games at the weekend and a ki-o-rahi field, which was the first public field in the country at the time it was installed.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The park is used by fitness enthusiasts, event-goers and families alike with an outdoor stage for community events, exercise equipment, a nine-hole disc golf course, a playground and a 5km asphalt track.

The track is used by 100 park runners every Saturday and solo runners, walkers and cyclists daily.

Hastings District Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said the award was a "wonderful acknowledgement" of the Flaxmere community whose ideas and vision had helped develop the park.

"I love seeing our whānau making the most of our beautiful parks and I'm very proud of the joint effort that both our residents and our parks team have put into Flaxmere Park."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

'Traumatic situation': Napier bus collides with mobility scooter

13 Jun 08:02 PM
Premium
Opinion

The Cossack ready to resume from where he left off

13 Jun 06:00 PM
Premium
Opinion

The trust, the individuals and the interns - the volunteers who make MTG tick: Laura Vodanovich

13 Jun 06:00 PM

It was just a stopover – 18 months later, they call it home

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

'Traumatic situation': Napier bus collides with mobility scooter

'Traumatic situation': Napier bus collides with mobility scooter

13 Jun 08:02 PM

The scooter rider suffered serious injuries and was taken to hospital.

Premium
The Cossack ready to resume from where he left off

The Cossack ready to resume from where he left off

13 Jun 06:00 PM
Premium
The trust, the individuals and the interns - the volunteers who make MTG tick: Laura Vodanovich

The trust, the individuals and the interns - the volunteers who make MTG tick: Laura Vodanovich

13 Jun 06:00 PM
Premium
Is rent ‘dead money? Nick Stewart

Is rent ‘dead money? Nick Stewart

13 Jun 06:00 PM
The woman behind NZ’s first PAK’nSAVE
sponsored

The woman behind NZ’s first PAK’nSAVE

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP