Napier's Art Deco Festival awarded best regional event in NZ

Californian visitors Carolyn and Keith Good at the Masquerade Ball, part of the award-winning 2018 Art Deco Festival. Photo / File

Accolades continue to flow for Napier's Art Deco Trust with a leading trophy at the New Zealand Events Awards on Tuesday night.

The 2018 Tremains Art Deco Festival, the 30th dating back to the first Art Deco Weekend in 1989, was named the best regional event in the country.

The festival and the Art Deco Trust, which was incorporated in 1987, have been variously decorated over the years, among the earliest awards being the Cultural Heritage acclaim at the 1993 New Zealand Tourism Awards and the Best Small Event prize at the 1994 New Zealand Events Marketing and Management Conference.

Art Deco Trust festival director Glenn Pickering, trust acting general manager Vicky Rope and event manager Beth Elstone were all on hand for the presentation, one of 16 awards at the annual New Zealand Events Association knees-up in Auckland at Shed 10.

Others in contention for the award were the New Zealand International Science Festival, the Child Cancer Foundation's Haier Big Hoot, and the Queenstown Winter Festival.
Pickering remained out of tow yesterday but said: "It was outstanding to be named Best Regional Event for our 2018 festival."

"Our aim is to offer an incredible experience to everyone who attends," he said. "We need to ensure it is accessible for all, community-driven, and celebrates the heritage and the era."

"The Art Deco Festival is such a fantastic event to work on, the backdrop of the city, with its stunning Art Deco era architecture on our doorstep, is the perfect stage for this festival."

Rope said: "It was an incredible honour to receive this award in the presence of event professionals at the top of their game, we deliver such a rich, diverse festival which, for a small region packs a lot of punch! The small, dedicated team that put this together are exceptional and can be proud of this achievement."

Napier City Council event manager Kevin Murphy said it was fantastic that the unique Art Deco event had been recognised.

"The Art Deco Trust does an amazing job to deliver this event with limited resources," he said. "Art Deco is really our point of difference, so this is just great for our city."
Judges complimented the organisers on their strategy and refreshed vision showing clear momentum for the future of the festival.

Of other major honours at Tuesday's awards, the Warbirds Over Wanaka airshow was named the best national event and was also the most-favoured by public vote, and the best international event was the IRB Sevens tournament in Hamilton.

The Art Deco Festival was the only Hawke's Bay event recognised in the awards.