Art on the Goldfields organiser Tracy Stroud, an avid gardener herself, always wanted to build a park with sculptures to open to the public a few times a year.
After the loss of her son Kelan in a car crash, she decided to continue with her idea for a garden and turn it into something positive.
Kelan, 17, was killed in a crash on State Highway 8 between Cromwell and Clyde as he was driving to work in March last year. He had only had his restricted licence for a month and made a split-second decision to pass a truck and trailer, hitting another car head on.
"It was purely through lack of knowledge and experience," his mother said.
Mrs Stroud said proceeds from tomorrow’s inaugural Art on the Goldfields would go to Kelan’s Gift, a fund to help young drivers in Central Otago go through the Street Smart driving course at Highlands Motorsport Park.
Kelan’s Gift had already raised $20,000 through a Givealittle page set up after his death, Mrs Stroud said.
She said she hoped the young drivers who went through the course would gain valuable knowledge to make better decisions on the road.
In total, 149 tickets were on sale for Arts on the Goldfields, selling for $149 each to match the price to get one young person through the Street Smart course.
"So effectively, when someone buys a ticket, they’re sponsoring someone and potentially saving a life," Mrs Stroud said.
Selling only 149 tickets allowed for a smaller, more grounded event.
Fifty sculptures by artists from across Central Otago would be on display and a percentage of sculpture sales would go to Kelan’s Gift.
As well as the sculptures, event-goers would be able to enjoy live music, food and Central Otago wines, experiencing a true "for local by local" event, she said.
This was the first time she and the other organisers had run an event, but she was optimistic about the weekend and the potential for future events, Mrs Stroud said.
Now that everything was in place to run the event, she hoped to run it at least every second year.
