Gore has a firm grip on the Gold Guitar awards and will never let them go, no matter how big they become.
That was the firm, unanimous consensus around Eastern Southland in the aftermath of yet another monster Queen's Birthday weekend of country music.
The Gold Guitars are big business for Gore and the town has certainly profited from the annual pilgrimage of country music fanatics.
The cash registers ring wildly for more than a week early every June, thousands squeeze into every possible form of accommodation there is going and everywhere you look there are cowboy hats - and the only sound of music is that of country.
An estimated 1200 people converged in Gore for the celebrations, forcing organisers to split the event into a series of concerts, auditions and award ceremonies spread across the town.
Tickets to the two main finals nights were as scarce as a punk rocker.
I noticed the Gore Country Music Club's new base at East Gore was crammed full of music-lovers.
Hundreds seemed packed in like sardines and more than one fan made similar remarks.
Maybe, I wondered, the awards had become too big for a town the size of Gore to handle.
But it seems I should not have worried.
No-one I spoke to or raised the issue with would even entertain the idea that the awards could possibly go anywhere else.
There is a precedent, I suggested.
What about the Nelson experience with the New Zealand World of Wearable Art, snaffled by its bigger, flashier neighbour Wellington.
Couldn't that happen to Gore?No way, not according to those involved in staging the annual event.
In fact, I found it impossible to find anyone who agreed or was willing to say so on the record.
Gore Mayor Tracy Hicks, a self-confessed country music fan, can never see a day when the Gold Guitars are taken off Gore.
There was no doubt, he said, the event had become stronger and there were always challenges in dealing with how to handle that kind of success.
Spreading the event over more than a week and making it more accessible to the wider public had also worked in the Gore Country Music Club's favour.
Where once the Gold Guitars revolved around three days of auditions and finals, the event starts 10 days out from the grand final with national songwriting awards evenings, the Gold Guitar Ambassador show, the New Zealand Country Music Awards, where the Tuis for best country song and album are handed out, and that is all before the big three - the junior, intermediate and senior finals.
Mr Hicks had no doubt the awards would continue to grow but the skill and passion of organisers meant they would never get to the point where Gore could not handle them.
What the Gold Guitars had done, he said, was act as the catalyst for a stream of other successful events, all of which had the potential to grow.
He cited the examples of the Hokonui Country Music festival and Moonshiners Festival, both held in mid-February, which had become major events in their own right.
But there was no doubt the Gold Guitars were the "keystone" in an ever-increasing log-jam of top events in Eastern Southland.
Gore entertainer Peter Cairns, the 1984 Gold Guitar winner, is also adamant Gore will never lose its grip on the awards.
This year's event was extra special for him after his daughter Taylor, together with Kayla Mahon and Lana Mackay, performing as E-Liza, won the overall Gold Guitar award.
Mr Cairns said the annual event had grown "majorly" in recent years but that could only be good for a town that profited from huge visitor numbers, booked-out accommodation and a feel-good atmosphere that has fans coming back, hungry for more.
Taking the event away from Gore was not an option, he said.
"It's a Gore thing and part of our identity. It's not something we will ever give up."
Not surprisingly, his partner, awards media officer Shona Hewlett, was in the same camp.
She thought rising petrol and food costs may have put some people off coming South this year but die-hard country music fans were a persistent group and the event showed every sign of continuing its remarkable growth.
Could Gore handle that growth? Of course it could. It was a good problem to have, she said.
For years, there was little problem snaring a ticket for the finals nights but those days were over.
Visitors could no longer roll up the night before and hope to get seats, she said.
The Gore Town and Country Club, which hosts the two big nights, could accommodate several hundred and was an excellent venue, she said, but Gore did well across the entire town with places such as the club's headquarters at the former Longford Tavern and SBS St James Theatre.
So, the message is clear. The Gold Guitars are Gore and Gore is the Gold Guitars. Period.
History of gold
The Gold Guitar Awards began in 1974 with just 38 entrants competing over just the one day. The inaugural winner was a performer called Patsy Riggir.
Entries in recent years have exceeded 450 and the awards run for 10 days, always finishing on the Sunday night of Queen's Birthday weekend. The first Junior Gold Guitar award was contested in 1979.
Gore has a sister city relationship with the Australian township of Tamworth, which stages its own country music festival each January. The towns send the winners of each festival to the other event on the other side of the Tasman.
Over the years, different events have been introduced to bolster the awards. These include the first songwriting contest in 1980 and the Miss Gold Guitar contest, later redeveloped into the Gold Guitar young ambassador award.
In 1984, the awards relocated from the James Cumming Wing to the Gore Town and Country Club. This boosted capacity from 700 to 1500.
In 1987, the club bought its own clubrooms in Tamworth Lane in central Gore. This building was destroyed by a serial arsonist in May 2004.
That year, the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand took its New Zealand Country Music Awards out of Auckland and down to Gore where they are still held.
Tuis for best country song and best country album are given out at the New Zealand Country Music Awards.
The club's issue about where to base itself was resolved in 2006 when the Mataura Licensing Trust offered to sell the Longford Function Centre in East Gore.
