The event, which would be a successor to the wound-up Wheels at Wānaka event and which proponents say would be ‘‘the biggest event Cromwell will hold’’, is a step closer to reality, as supporters make pleas to the local council for a quick decision on approving it.
The land at the Cromwell Raceway Reserve, where the vintage machinery and earthworking equipment event would be held, is managed by the Central Lakes Equestrian Club.
The club is keen for the event, but the Central Otago District Council must give its approval, as land will be disturbed.
Vintage tractor enthusiast Peter Macdougall spoke at the Cromwell Community Board’s public forum last week to urge members to make a decision soon because the parade ground for the event which, being penciled in for next year, would need to be built, grassed and fenced this year, ready for the summer racing season.
He initially appeared before the board in August last year to inform it of the proposal to relocate the Wheels at Wānaka event to the racecourse reserve.
He believed the site would be ideal for the event next year and beyond, he said at the time, and addressed concerns about temporarily relocating parts of the cross-country course and event noise.
Last week he told the board it would be ‘‘the biggest event Cromwell will hold’’.
The grassed area needed would be big enough to be a multi-use facility and the Wheels event would only need it once every two years.
‘‘There’s a lot of time that other groups can use that for various things, such as concerts, open-air concerts. You could have a 20-20 cricket pitch.’’
The group had been planning since May last year, he said.
Permission was sought from the community board to build on the site and to be a partner in a charitable trust.
‘‘For the next 30-odd years, we need to set up a charitable trust and I believe that that charitable trust should be a five-legged trust.
‘‘The heavy machinery people, the truck people, the vintage tractor people, they have a leg each and then the community board as a 20% partner and the Cromwell community.’’
He was told the community board had no money and he accepted funders would have to be approached for money.
‘‘If the community board would come on to the charitable trust, we would need two trustees from the community.’’
Community board chairwoman Anna Harrison said a paper would need to come to the table through council staff as decisions could not be made from public forum discussions.
Council property and facilities manager Garreth Robinson said while the Central Lakes Equestrian Club, which manages the lease on the reserve, could make a decision about if, and where on the site, the event would be held, because the land was being altered in the planned arena area that decision also had to come through the council.
Club president Wayne Dixon said he was meeting council staff this week to advise them of the proposed site for the event.
‘‘So at the moment, there’s a 95% chance that it’ll go ahead.
‘‘Well, we’re expecting it to, and it’ll be exciting.
‘‘Exciting for Cromwell, and great for us.
‘‘There’s some benefits for us, and certainly there’ll be benefits for the community.’’
Wheels at Wānaka was created by Three Parks developer Allan Dippie and some ‘‘like-minded individuals’’ who shared a love of classic cars.
After the final Wānaka event last year, Mr Dippie said he did not think he was very popular for winding it up but it had grown beyond his initial expectations and he wanted to focus on other community events and his business interests.
‘‘I think we were going to organise a small car show for Labour Weekend and it kind of grew to a massive all-vehicles show at Easter.
‘‘We ended up broadening our horizons, I would say. It happened by accident.’’
The event attracted 15,000 people in its first year, 25,000 in its second, 35,000 in 2023 and about 50,000 last year.
It drew about $19.2million into the Queenstown Lakes economy in 2023.
Proceeds from the event went towards community fundraisers and charities.
In 2024 the Wheels on Wānaka Charitable Trust donated $100,000 to community groups.
