Napier home show organisers persevere through floods and ram-raid

After a van ram raided PGA leaving behind its door and smashing the entrance, event organiser Josh Shanley organised a temporary fix so this weekend's event could go ahead. Photo / Paul Taylor

Neither floods nor a brazen ram raid have stopped Hawke's Bay Better Home & Living Show organisers in their mission.

Date changes and rescheduling events and have become the norm in 2020 for event organisers at Jade Promotions and Events and Pettigrew Green Arena (PGA), but they certainly didn't expect a burglary and a deluge before this weekend's event.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, PGA was the target of a ram raid by a van - in which an ATM was stolen - less than a week before the show opens on Friday.

After the event couldn't run in May, show director Josh Shanley was determined to make it happen, so he put on his toolbelt and organised a temporary repair for the smashed door.

Shanley was previously a builder on the Block NZ and had a building company in New Plymouth so he and Richie from RCM Installation came up with a temporary entrance cover to ensure the show could be held.

"2020 has thrown us lots of challenges and I think one thing it has taught us is resilience, so we just get in there and do what we have to do so we can open the doors on Friday.

"It's not only the event organisers who have a tough year in elevated alert levels, it's the venues, the panel suppliers, the lighting, and also the exhibitors, lots of whom rely on events like trade shows for their sales," he said.

When the rain started on Monday and flooding affected Napier, Jade Promotions and Events marketing manager Emily Shanley said they thought "oh gosh, 2020".

"We know some of our exhibitors have been affected by the rain so we just knew for a lot of them who are working really hard to be at the show that this is just another setback in what has been an incredibly tough year for them."

Luckily, the flooding hadn't affected the arena as the Taradale area is slightly higher, PGA general manager Dan Rodden said.

Instead, they had sports cancelled, which meant they could provide an open space for the Magpies to train on when fields were out of action.

"If Covid taught us anything it was to think positively in tough times.

"Having an early-morning conversation with Josh emulated this thinking and the ideas of how to use the now very large entranceway started flowing.

"We are very excited here at PGA with our biggest event of the year the Better Home and Living Show finally about to happen, so this has created some rather unwanted problems, but rest assured we are doing everything we can to deliver this event for the Hawke's Bay community."

The event opens on Friday and runs until Sunday.