Editorial: Art Deco week celebrates a movement, and honours the legacy of earthquake victims

There were 20,000-plus people in Napier on Saturday for the Art Deco festival.

The enthusiasm with which Napier and participants embraces the annual Art Deco Festival has to be seen to be, perhaps not believed, but appreciated.

As someone who has heard about it, experiencing aspects of the Art Deco week has brought home to me its uniqueness. Which really, is only a reflection of how unique the city that hosts it is. And of course its people.

Napier's Art Deco infusion was a gift, a taonga that arose from the tragedy of the 1931 earthquake. The Art Deco movement, its architecture and fashion style, is truly celebrated.

Art Deco Trust acting general manager Vicky Rope observed this weekend that seven cruise ships visited during the week long celebration.

"For them it was jaw-dropping," Rope said. "We had to explain to a lot of people that we don't do this all of the time."

Now that would be something.

The Art Deco Trust and Napier City Council will have a satisfying debrief in front of them.
There will be things that worked, things that didn't and conundrums to consider.

Napier is not built to handle 20,0000-plus people easily - this was easily the temporary population of the CBD on Saturday during the festival's parade.

What a great problem to have though - how many other regional New Zealand cities can boast of an event like this, and a cultural event at that.

It's also an event that encourages people to put aside their inhibitions, and have a go, dress up. Walking through Napier in dressed in art deco style, it felt like you were part of a club, of something much bigger.

Ironic, that The Art Deco Trust is considering how to cope with the rising popularity of their event, and other powers that be in the town will be scratching their heads at the low turnout to the Black Caps v Bangladesh international in Napier last Wednesday. Pricing seems to be a common theme re the latter - with all due respect to Bangladesh, the tickets cost too much.

Sad, because there are other regional towns that will jump at the chance to host international cricket. Napier is a perfect town to host international cricket, let's not lose it.

No chance of that with Art Deco of course.

Which doesn't mean we should take it for granted, to do so would not honour the legacy of the people who died in 1931. Art Deco Week is truly a celebration, and organisers are entitled to do that when the dust settles on this year's event.

Congratulations, many people are looking forward to next year's event already.