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Mushers compete
Pohutukawa Princess page 2
The Wanaka Dog Sled festival ran for four days at the Snow Farm, a great spectacle event for snow and dog lovers. Pictured is Wanaka’s Todd Hessey, who placed second in the two-dog class. The event, organised by the Southern Regions Sled Dog Club, sees races of four to six kms for one and two dogs and up to 12km for teams of three to eight dogs. This is the 20th year of the event, and 38 mushers and 160 dogs participated.
PHOTO: garrick cameron
Pick it up page 2
Shape your future What does Wanaka mean to you? Sue Wards
Who stole the boot? page 3
winfordad Father’s Day page 4
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September will be a crucial month for locals to identify what they value about this district – in the hope it will have an impact on local decision-makers. The Shaping Our Future consultation process is kicking off a new series of meetings throughout September to identify people’s ‘vision and values’ for the district. “If people want to have their say in any of this, this is probably the key part: what we value and what we want a successful future for the district to be like,” co-facilitator Dave Roberts said. The community consultation process began in May, building on guidelines from the 2020 consultation process in 2002. The process was championed by QLDC mayor Vanessa van Uden from the beginning. “We have the ability to define our future without paying people from Australia and Auckland to tell us how,”
she said in May. A number of public forums have been held throughout the district on topics such as economics and events. The most recent forum in Wanaka saw a lively debate on the future of events between Wanaka
by Vanessa van Uden, with Wanaka members being John Aspinall and Sue Coutts. Ideas from the forums will be gathered and fine tuned and recommendations made to groups such as council, central government, developers and community groups.
What is unique about our place and our people? What would you be saddened about if it was lost from the district? and Queenstown residents via a live video exchange. Consensus emerged that a centralised point of contact is needed for events and an independent body should be formed to help fund and implement a district-wide events strategy. A working group will be formed to prepare a discussion paper for community consideration. The public forums are run by a voluntary steering group chaired
So far more than 30 groups and as many individuals have signed up as supporters of the process. This month’s focus on ‘vision and values’ means locals will be asked what they value most about “our place and our people”, in the hope the answers will identify a vision of success for the future, Dave Roberts said. “We’re looking to ask questions such as, what is unique about our
place and our people? What do you love most about the people in your communities and the place you live? What would you be saddened about if it was lost from the district?” The information will be collated and available for public comment in November with a draft vision ready by December. The ‘vision and values’ process includes a series of community meetings and an online survey, as well as a blog on the Shaping Our Future website. All local schools are participating in the process so children can have their say as well. The Wanaka meetings are: Thursday September 1 at Cardrona Community Hall, 6pm; Wednesday September 14, Hawea Flat Hall, 5.30pm; and Monday September 16, Lake Wanaka Centre (date and time to be confirmed).