Editorial: Rain or sun - the show goes on

Andrew Austin, Editor of Hawke's Bay Today.

It has been a tough year for events in the Bay with mother nature deciding not to show any mercy on the things we do well - putting on shows.

With any mass gathering of people for fun and entertainment in the Bay, one hopes that it will be bathed in beautiful sunshine with our fantastic landscape at its gleaming best.
In a region that is blessed with quite a bit of sunshine - that is one of the reasons we live here, right? - rain has fallen at the most inconvenient times.

Our showcase in Napier - the Tremains Art Deco Weekend - could have been a fizzer because it bucketed down, but a few tweaks of the programme and a couple of outdoor events altered and hardly anyone noticed.

Everyone still had fun and it was still a success.

Horse of the Year could have been an absolute disaster and it probably won't break even, but it is amazing that they even held one event with the amount of rain that fell before and during the show.

Thankfully sensible decisions - like cancelling the cross-country event - were made so that there was no serious, or even fatal, injuries to riders or horses.

It was also a rough start for the Vantage Hawke's Bay Festival of Hockey with a burst water main during the Black Sticks' match on Friday night causing a halt to play for an hour.

When it happened there was some confusion about what it meant for the tournament, but apart from some days of heavy rain, the festival has carried on with some good tussles between some good teams.

You can bet your bottom dollar that Mission Estate CEO Peter Holley and the organisers of tonight's Mission Concert starring The Dixie Chicks said a few prayers earlier this week as the heavens opened.

But, as they have said, it seems timing has been perfect. The ground may be a little damp and it may pay to rug up, but concert goers, including me, will be able to focus on the brilliance of this international act. It was a coup to get them and I think the Hawke's Bay weather will also put on a show for them, even at this time of the year.

So, the start to our events season has been hard, but we hopefully we can look forward to some more opportunities to showcase our wonderful Hawke's Bay.