Wagon wheels in motion as Waikaka's prepares for cavalcade

The rumble of wagon trains, horse riders and many walking feet will not reach Waikaka until February next year, but the town is already bracing itself for the massive logistics involved in hosting the 2009 Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust ‘‘Roll into Waikaka'' Cavalcade.

Up to five hundred people are expected to take part in the event, some dressed in heritage gear, as they make their way from points across Otago and Southland by wagon, horse and on foot. Organisers also expect 2000 to 3000 supporters to converge on the town on February 28, 2009.

Eastern Southland Chamber of Commerce chairman John Wilson can already see the financial impact such a large event will have on the area.

‘‘The flow-on effects of an event of this size will be felt all around the region. Accommodation and food outlets will benefit most, but all the suppliers of goods and services vital to putting on the cavalcade will notice. The Otago Goldfields Trust runs a very well organised event that has grown almost every year,'' he said.

Trail bosses, who are in charge of mapping routes and guiding riders from as far afield as Te Anau, Owaka and the Mavora Lakes, are waiting for calmer weather before doing a test ride on each trail to make sure they are safe. However, for the members of the Waikaka Host Town Committee, preparations have already begun.

Catering for hundreds of people, organising entertainment for the ‘‘hoedown'' for the night and making it a day that all involved will remember is at the top of the committee's agenda.

Committee secretary Liz O'Connell knows that organising the basic facilities to cope with the amount of people involved is what the success of the day will be riding on.

‘‘Road and parking marshalls, horse groomers and carers, toilets and a big breakfast for the Sunday morning afterwards are all things that we're thinking of,'' she said. ‘‘We are lucky to be part of such a supportive community and I think, because of that, we have the confidence that we'll be able to pull it off,'' she said.

Banding together as a small town to make a success of such a large event seems not only to underline the confidence of the host town committee, but also of event coordinator Roberta Laraman, of Cromwell.

‘‘I have no doubt that Waikaka will make the 2009 cavalcade a very memorable one. There is such a strong community spirit there, that I know they'll all pull together and use each other's strengths,'' she said.

Waikaka ties into the theme of the goldfields cavalcade because of its history as an area that had a high gold yield in the past. From 1867 the land, that was then very swampy, was dredged heavily, with the last operational gold-dredge ceasing operation only six years ago.

This will be the second time a Southland town has hosted the event, with Waikaia hosting in it in 2003.
The host town committee is asking for Waikaka residents not to be shy about volunteering their services.

‘‘We're encouraging people who may feel that they can't contribute by themselves to step forward. We can assure them that as the event gets closer we will definitely be able to join them up with clusters of people who will have an enjoyable time contributing to the success of the event,'' Mrs O'Connell said.