Editorial: Weather no drama for Deco

Don't let the weather hold you back.

I remember well the year the annual Art Deco Weekend, one of summer's greatest attractions for the Bay, and the country for that matter, looked like being badly hamstrung ... due to gas.

Namely, the lack of it.

It was 2007 I think and there was a storm down Palmerston North way that fractured a major gas line to the Bay a day out from the opening of the great weekend, and with hotels and cafes all over Napier dependent on the stuff for cooking things looked grim.

The events manager at the time, Peter Mooney, said panic was an understatement initially, but then the "spirit of the blitz" kicked in.

Caterers brought in portable barbecues from all over the place and set them up in the gas-less hotels.

Mr Mooney said he relaxed when a colleague noted that the whole Art Deco event was effectively a commemoration of a time when there had been a disaster. "And now we've got one," he pointed out.

"It was all hands to the pump and we did it," Mr Mooney said.

Then there was the wet weekend that saw the rains arrive.

Some events were dashed and others shifted indoors, but again, that "spirit of the blitz" energy and passion emerged.

I remember seeing dapper and slightly damp John "Bertie" Cocking with his umbrella raised and shoes glistening with moisture, grinning and declaring, "oh what the hell, it's only water".

So the prospect of this weekend's mid-winter Deco delight possibly being dampened by rain should not be seen as a hinderance.

Because we of the Bay have proved in the past that a disaster, be it major or minor, can't hold us back.

Just take a brolly and scarf ... there, sorted.