Party time for Napier: City to mark 150 years since being declared a borough

Some of the plans for this year’s Napier City Council celebration of the city’s first 150 years could be announced by the end of next month.

Council project manager Bevan Trotman confirmed there would be a series of events, mainly around the anniversary of when Napier was declared a borough, on November 29, 1874.

Hastings celebrated a similar milestone last year and, like the Hastings District Council, the Napier council will be trying to make events run economically, mainly free to the public, and probably not as extensive as the 1974 centennial, which was held mainly in February to May of that year.

A family reunion in 2008 recalled the landing of one settler family in Napier in 1874, the year Napier was declared a borough. This year the whole city will get to celebrate its first 150 years. Photo / NZME

The declaration of a borough in 1874 came with a decision to form a borough council, with a roll of 493 electors. The population at the time of the centennial in 1974 was about 43,000, and was estimated to be 67,500 in June last year.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 50 years of journalism experience in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities — 37 years of it in Napier.