Black and white for volunteers at Tremains Art Deco Weekend

Art Deco Trust's Peter Mooney and events assistant Amber McArthur model what the new team of volunteers they have lined up will be wearing. Photo/Duncan Brown

Art Deco events manager Peter Mooney and his organising crew faced something of a dilemma when it came to finding a "uniform" that would stand out during the great colourful Tremains Art Deco Weekend next month.

As part of streamlining entry to the many events, assisting visitors and generally helping out where it's needed, the Art Deco Trust has taken a leaf out of the Rugby World Cup and brought together a 25-strong team of the specialist volunteers who helped make the big rugby event run so smoothly in Napier back in 2011.

"They did such a good job so we decided to get in touch with them and add them in as an additional core of volunteers," Mr Mooney said.

The group will be tagged "volunteer concierges" and their duties will be modelled on the work that they carried out during the Cup.

"We had to come up with something to make them stand out, and during the weekend when everyone's dressed up that was a bit of a challenge."

So they looked around, checked out international fashions and fixtures and came up with the answer, which comes from the baseball diamonds of America.

"Umpires' jerseys," Mr Mooney said.

"They do stand out. Horizontal black and white stripes and, of course, that's Hawke's Bay's colours too."

After the weekend the volunteers will keep their special shirts, as they did with their teal-coloured Rugby World Cup ones.

Mr Mooney said adding the volunteers to the supervising mix would help streamline events where large numbers were expected, plus help people who needed directions or advice about events and locations.

Another new angle to the weekend, which kicks off on February 19, is the introduction of a phone app. Presently being developed, the app will list the weekend's events and public facilities, such as parking and toilets. It will also feature a special Art Deco-style frame which will automatically be attached around any photographs taken.

Mr Mooney hopes to see the app out in a few weeks.

And the good news for steam-train lovers, he said, was that recent weather conditions were keeping the total amount of fire bans introduced this time last year at bay.

"This latest rain we've had has been a real bonus."

Although the final decision will be made closer to the time by the rural fire chiefs, Mr Mooney said things were positive.

"It looks a whole lot better than it did this time last year."