Sam Coulthard says unless he can get some help behind the scenes to pull the rainbow community’s annual celebration together, he’ll have no choice but to park it for this year.
Coulthard’s house was trashed while he was DJing at last year’s final Winter Pride party — he’s still not able to live in the property he estimates sustained about $300,000 of damage.
He alleges hazardous waste was strewn throughout his property, including in his pool and all over his clothes.
He says his laptop was destroyed, his clothes had to be thrown out, the carpet and hardwood floors were ruined.
“Anything that was porous, the clothes, the bedding, all gone.”
A person has admitted a charge of wilful damage in relation to the offending and will be sentenced at a later date.
However, between managing the house repairs, working fulltime and also DJing, Coulthard says he hasn’t had any capacity to organise this year’s Winter Pride.
“I can’t really sort of manage it [on my own].
“We had a few people who came on to help [last year] who have all decided it’s too much and too hard . . . so I have to try and start from scratch, build a team, train new people, and we’re running out of time.”
Coulthard, who took over Winter Pride from its previous owners, Marty King and Mike Hughes, says last year’s 10-day event was worth about $10 million to Queenstown’s economy.
“[Cancelling will] really affect a lot of the community . . . all these businesses are missing out on the tourism, people coming and [adding] vibrancy to the city.”
