Yesterday morning Keep New Zealand Beautiful chief executive Heather Saunderson and wellness author Rachel Grunwell took a tour of the historic village to judge it for the 2020 Beautiful Awards, for which Arrowtown is a finalist in the small towns category.
The awards celebrate environmental excellence and recognise positive actions taken by communities, businesses, schools, individuals and councils, in local and urban areas to protect and enhance their local environments.
Each finalist in the individual, community, business, place, small and large towns and cities, must demonstrate sustainable and environmentally conscious behaviours across four key areas — litter prevention and waste minimisation, community beautification, recycling projects and sustainable tourism.
Queenstown Lakes District Council’s Arrowtown ward councillor Heath Copland and Arrowtown Promotions and Business Association project co-ordinator Sue Patterson accompanied the judges during their two-hour visit.
Cr Copland said because Keep New Zealand Beautiful was "highly driven by the environmental side of things", they explained the council’s three-bin system — waste, mixed recycling and glass — for residents and the four-bin system throughout the town, and the district.
"We also talked about the work we’re doing in the wilding pine space and the control there, the Predator Free Arrowtown groups, we took them down to the banks of Bush Creek and showed them all the replanting that’s been going on down there by the Wakatipu Reforestation Trust and talked about the heritage nature of our town and the way we protect that as well."
He said Ms Saunders, in particular, did not give much away.
"The judge was reasonably poker-faced — I couldn’t get a really good read on her — but I think she enjoyed the tour. She was interactive with us, so we’ll wait and see."
Cr Copland said given the events of the past six months or so, any promotion for Arrowtown at present was positive.
One of the winners of the towns and cities category would be named the supreme winner and receive a mural, up to the value of $10,000, to help beautify their community.
