Field days extend warm welcome

Ken Gilligan, of Tangiteroria, has a front wheel off the ground as he powers his 500cc Kingcat into a turn on the lawnmower race circuit at the Northland Field Days. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Whangarei motorists heading west to the Northland Field Days at Dargaville worried they would need raincoats when they drove though a shower at Tangiteroria about 9.45am yesterday.

However, when they reached the field days site at the junction of State Highway 14 and Awakino Point East Rd the sun was out, the free carpark was filling fast and people wearing hats, shorts and sunscreen were streaming into the events centre.

Richard Downey was giving visitors a lift from the carpark to the gates in a trailer pulled by his farm tractor. He does it every year to raise funds for the Kaihu Rugby Club, for which he used to play but is now the bar manager.

Inside the gates Karen Jones was among a large number of volunteers who made sure everyone entering was handed a programme.

Northland Field Days events administrator Meagan Edmonds said organisers were encouraged by the large early crowd, with many people smiling and enjoying themselves.

She expected larger attendances today and tomorrow, with the Saturday crowd traditionally the largest of the three-day event, boosted by parents taking along their children.

Big tractors and other heavy agricultural machinery were dominant displays at the field days, many farmers accepting the invitation of stepladders provided to make it easy for them to clamber up to inspect the tractor cabs.

Hundreds of stands promoted every kind of rural service available in Northland from Absolute Concrete and ACE Equipment to Zenteq and ZeroPak. There was plenty of action to entertain spectators on the fringes of the commercial stands, with the Kaipara Vintage Machinery Club, racing lawnmowers and a tractor pull cranking up on the northern end of the field days site and the Ballance Agri-Nutrients Sheep Dog Trials drawing spectators to the southern end of the site.

The dog trials were particularly popular when two-person teams from Ballance, Farmlands and the field days committee took over from the dogs with some hilarious results as the sheep got away on them.