Breakfast event to help Dannevirke businesses adapt to new Te Ahu a Turanga Highway

Three Dannevirke women are on a mission to empower and help businesses prepare for the opening of the Te Ahu a Turanga Highway to ensure the town continues as a destination spot.

The 11.5km Manawatū Tararua Highway is due to be completed mid-2025, and would replace the former State Highway 3 through the Manawatū Gorge that closed due to slips in 2017.

Tararua Funerals owner Tracey Friend , Property Brokers sales manager Robynne Cload, and Tararua Reap employment support Kahlia Christison decided to host a breakfast event with the Dannevirke Chamber of Commerce.

They wanted to help business owners understand the highway’s impact on the town.

The event would address what the new road meant for Dannevirke, what it would mean for local businesses and how to make the town a destination.

Robynne Cload (left), Kahlia Christison and Tracey Friend hope the event will inspire Dannevirke business owners.

Te Ahu a Turanga Highway owner interface manager Aarin Bang will join Wednesday’s breakfast as a guest speaker to discuss the highway’s progress, share opening dates, and present the latest preview video.

Owner of New Zealand Natural Clothing Company in Norsewood, Phil Grant, will speak about promoting businesses and his experience with the closure of its retail store in Ōtaki with the opening of the State Highway 1 traffic bypass.

Friend said it was a breakfast event so that business owners could go along and get to work by 8.30am.

“The road is not far away from opening and we have got less than a year, so just to get people thinking about what it could potentially mean for the district.”

She wanted to explore what it meant for the Tararua town’s employment, business, and promotion opportunities.

“If they want to develop their business to accommodate it, it’s an opportunity to start thinking about things moving forward.”

Cload felt the highway would have an impact on real estate and employment opportunities.

“We could find more first-home buyers and people who can’t afford to buy in Palmerston North, but have great jobs there contemplating a commute where they can buy a house they can afford.”

She said the highway made Dannevirke more accessible and a big part of the future for the town was to ensure it remained a “stopping place”.

Christison said it was a great chance for businesses to think “out of the square” about what could be done to make it more of a destination.

“It’s to make businesses realise they can be a part of that, and it’s not having a feature in the middle of town to make people stop, it can be a business.”

She said the way businesses promoted and advertised would help out with that idea and they were hoping to attract 50 businesses to the event.

Event details:

Location: RSA Dannevirke, 1 Princess St.

Date: Wednesday, August 28.

Time: 7.30am breakfast and presentation.

Cost: $20 to be paid at the venue and registrations can be emailed to info@dannevirkechamber.co.nz

Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings and Central Hawke’s Bay newsrooms. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and has a love of sharing stories about farming and rural communities.